Mumbai, Feb. 18 -- The key equity benchmarks traded in negative territory with modest losses in the morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,850 mark. PSU bank shares declined after advancing in the previous trading session.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 383.05 points or 0.50% to 75,613.81. The Nifty 50 index declined 136.45 points or 0.59% to 22,823.05.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.03% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index slipped 1.86%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 964 shares rose and 2,557 shares fell. A total of 156 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty PSU Bank index declined 1.14% to 5,836.90. The index rose 0.5...