Mumbai, Sept. 24 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with major cuts in early afternoon trade, as rising oil prices, elevated US Treasury yields and losses across Asian markets weighed on domestic equities. Investors also tracked key regulatory and market developments. The Nifty slipped below the 23,200 level.

PSU Bank shares declined after advancing in the past trading session.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 813.01 points or 1.08% to 74,016.46. The Nifty 50 index lost 257.05 points or 1.10% to 23,188.75.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 1.21% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index dropped 0.66%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,519 shares rose and 2,598 shares fell. A total of 2...