Mumbai, Oct. 19 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with significant losses in early afternoon trade weighed down by elevated crude oil prices and selling pressure in heavyweight banking stocks. Investor sentiment remained subdued following the release of second-quarter FY27 results by a major banking player over the weekend, with concerns over pressure on net interest margins (NIMs) and modest earnings growth weighing on the banking pack.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 755.77 points or 0.98% to 73,996.33. The Nifty 50 index declined 206.20 points or 0.89% to 22,941.60.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 0.57% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 1.01%.

The market breadth w...