Mumbai, May 15 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest losses in early trade. The Nifty traded below the 24,600 level. IT stocks slipped in early trade, pausing after gains in the previous session. Market volatility was heightened due to the weekly expiry of the Nifty F&O series today.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 368.02 points or 0.45% to 80,962.54. The Nifty 50 index slipped 101.50 points or 0.41% to 24,566.70.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.76%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,315 shares rose and 1,142 shares fell. A total of 202 shares were unchanged.

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