Mumbai, Dec. 10 -- The headline equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,800 level. Auto stocks witnessed buying demand for the third consecutive trading session.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, dropped 336.28 points or 0.40% to 84,330. The Nifty 50 index shed 80.65 points or 0.31% to 25,754.70.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.98% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.50%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,877 shares rose and 2,211 shares fell. A total of 164 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Auto index rose 0.40% to 27,508.20. The index jumped 1.54% in the three consecuti...