Mumbai, Feb. 18 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with minor cuts in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,750 mark. IT, Realty and media shared declined while PSU bank, metal and FMCG shares advanced.

At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex fell 12.62 points or 0.02% to 83,449.41. The Nifty 50 index declined 5.55 points or 0.05% to 25,724.40.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.24% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.37%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,129 shares rose and 1,917 shares fell. A total of 197 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 3.01% to 12...