Mumbai, Oct. 19 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 23,100 level. Private bank shares declined after advancing in the past two trading sessions.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 224.93 points or 0.30% to 74,504.34. The Nifty 50 index lost 63.65 points or 0.27% to 23,082.50.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 0.07% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.57%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,407 shares rose and 2,438 shares fell. A total of 266 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Private Bank index fell 1.63% to 27,249.15. The index jumped 1.97% in the past two trading sessions.

Axis Bank (down 4.15%), F...