Mumbai, Oct. 3 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with minor cuts in early trade. The Nifty traded a tad below the 24,800 level. Media, auto and FMCG shares declined, while metal, PSU bank and pharma stocks advanced.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 150.43 points or 0.19% to 80,832.88. The Nifty 50 index lost 67.20 points or 0.27% to 24,769.10.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.09% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.31%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,980 shares rose and 1,056 shares fell. A total of 181 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,605.20 crore, while domestic institutional inv...