Mumbai, Sept. 1 -- The key equity benchmarks pared all recovery gains and traded in the negative territory in afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,050 level. Bank, financials and auto stocks led the decline while FMCG, IT and metal shares bucked the trend.

At 13:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 12.52 points or 0.02% to 76,944.75. The Nifty 50 index lost 32.30 points or 0.13% to 24,048.10.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index fell 0.51% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.09%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,835 shares rose and 2,343 shares fell. A total of 249 shares were unchanged.

Gainers & Losers:

ITC (up 4.58%), HCL Tech (up 4%), Adani Ports (up 3.41%), Bharti Airtel ...