Mumbai, Jan. 13 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest cuts in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,750 mark. Auto stocks witnessed selling pressure for the fifth consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 121.89 points or 0.15% to 83,698.13. The Nifty 50 index shed 61.25 points or 0.24% to 25,721.85.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.37% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.32%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 2,020 shares rose and 1,888 shares fell. A total of 188 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 0.46% to 11.42. The Nifty 27...