Mumbai, Aug. 4 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in mid-afternoon trade as investors remained cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) monetary policy decision. The Nifty traded below the 24,500 level. Realty shares declined after advancing in the past two trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 638.27 points or 0.82% to 78,732.91. The Nifty 50 index fell 307.95 points or 1.24% to 24,466.35.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.01% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index jumped 0.38%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 2,067 shares rose and 2,097 shares fell. A total of 198 shares were unchanged.

RBI MPC meeti...