Mumbai, July 24 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest losses in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 23,850 mark. Auto, oil & gas, and healthcare shares declined, while media and PSU bank shares advanced.

At 13:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 362.55 points or 0.47% to 76,028.84. The Nifty 50 index fell 107.55 points or 0.45% to 23,759.50.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index dropped 0.37% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index declined 0.37%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,807 shares rose and 2,184 shares fell. A total of 225 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's private sector activity expanded at its slowest pace in over four years in July as demand softened and inf...