Mumbai, Oct. 3 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with minor cuts in the mid-morning trade, dragged by continued selling from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), even as global markets stayed positive and sentiment was supported by the Reserve Bank of India's dovish policy stance. The Nifty traded below the 24,850 mark, while media stocks slipped after gaining in previous sessions.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 8.19 points or 0.01% to 80,975.12. The Nifty 50 index lost 16.55 points or 0.07% to 24,819.75.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.28% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.56%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,...