Mumbai, Oct. 28 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,700 level. Realty shares declined after advancing in the past two trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 476.62 points or 0.65% to 73,142.01. The Nifty 50 index fell 93.65 points or 0.41% to 22,652.90.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index increased 0.41% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.19%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,949 shares rose and 2,095 shares fell. A total of 235 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2....