Mumbai, Sept. 5 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest cuts in the early afternoon trade, weighed by profit booking. Investors adopted a risk-averse approach. The Nifty slipped below the 24,700 level. Realty shares witnessed selling pressure for second consecutive trading session.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 281.31 points or 0.35% to 80,441.94. The Nifty 50 index declined 76.20 points or 0.31% to 24,658.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.42% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.20%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,763 shares rose and 2,107 shares fell. A total of 186 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Realty index droppe...