Mumbai, Dec. 3 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest cuts in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded tad below the 25,950 mark. Auto shares extended losses for a second consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slipped 183.10 points or 0.22% to 84,955.17. The Nifty 50 index lost 84.55 points or 0.32% to 25,948.85.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.90% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.48%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,327 shares rose and 2,589 shares fell. A total of 191 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near...