Mumbai, July 14 -- The key equity barometers traded with major losses in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,100 level. Financial Services shares declined after advancing for past three consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:30 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 528.41 points or 0.68% to 77,087.99. The Nifty 50 index fell 147.55 points or 0.61% to 24,063.45.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index fell 0.68% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index dropped 1.11%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,433 shares rose and 2,578 shares fell. A total of 208 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's retail inflation breached the Reserve Bank's target for the first time in 17 months, governmen...