Mumbai, Feb. 27 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded near the flat line with some negative bias in early afternoon trade amid mixed global cues. The Nifty traded below the 22,550 mark. Media shares declined after advancing for the previous trading sessions. Trading was volatile due to the monthly Nifty50 F&O series expiry today.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, shed 4.09 points or 0.01% to 74.594.34. The Nifty 50 index fell 20.30 points or 0.09% to 22,527.25.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 1.22%, and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 2.12%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 962 shares rose and 2,771 shares fell. A total of 166 shares were uncha...