Mumbai, July 8 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with major cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 23,900 level. PSU bank shares witnessed selling pressure for five consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 1,699.55 points or 2.17% to 76,481.17. The Nifty 50 index lost 499.70 points or 2.05% to 23,893.50.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index shed 1.88% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 2.02%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,054 shares rose and 3,121 shares fell. A total of 183 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 2.78% to 8,067.55. The index declined 5.94% in the five consecut...