Mumbai, May 22 -- The headline equity benchmarks traded with major losses in early afternoon trade amid global risk aversion. A spike in U.S. Treasury yields, Moody's downgrade of the U.S. credit outlook, weak bond demand, and a technical correction following the recent rally triggered broad-based selling in Indian equities. IT shares declined after advancing in previous trading session.

The Nifty traded below the 24,600 level. The market could be volatile due to the weekly expiry of the Nifty F&O series today.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tanked 907.92 points or 1.10% to 80,709.54. The Nifty 50 index tumbled 253.25 points or 1.02% to 24,559.75.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.46% a...