Mumbai, Nov. 3 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with moderate cuts in early trade as investors turned cautious amid uncertainty surrounding US-China trade negotiations, FII inflows, and the upcoming India-US trade talks. Market participants also kept a close watch on the ongoing Q2 earnings season, with key results from State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Grasim Industries, Sun Pharmaceuticals and Adani Enterprises due later this week. The Nifty slipped below the 26,000 mark.

PSU Bank, realty and media shares advanced while private bank and IT shares declined.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 247.14 points or 0.29% to 83,691.57. The Nifty 50 index fell 46.30 points or 0.18% to 25,675.40.

The broa...