Mumbai, Feb. 27 -- The key equity indices pared their minor gains and traded near the flat line with a negative bias in the morning trade. The Nifty traded below the 22,550 mark. Financial services shares witnessed buying demand for the second consecutive trading session.

At 10:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 30.70 points or 0.04% to 74,.577.67. The Nifty 50 index shed 16.30 points or 0.07% to 22,531.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.62% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.42%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,087 shares rose and 2,422 shares fell. A total of 178 shares were unchanged.

Buzzing Index:

The Financial Services index advanced 0.79% to 23,218.60. The inde...