Mumbai, Dec. 2 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with moderate cuts in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 26,100 level. Realty shares extended losses for a fourth consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 376.31 points or 0.44% to 85,265.59. The Nifty 50 index lost 110.30 points or 0.42% to 26,065.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.09% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.47%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,471 shares rose and 2,426 shares fell. A total of 209 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rose 1.07% to 11.75. The ...