Buy or sell stocks, June 18 -- After rising for two straight sessions, the Indian stock market paused and finished lower on Tuesday. The Nifty 50 index ended 92 points lower at 24,853, the BSE Sensex finished 212 points lower at 81,583, while the Bank Nifty index lost 230 points and closed at 55,714. The Nifty Mid-cap and the Nifty Small-cap Indices underperformed the benchmark, where the Nifty Mid-cap 100 Index fell by 0.66%, while the Nifty Small-cap 100 Index corrected by 0.69%. Market breadth remained weak for the fourth consecutive day, with declining stocks outpacing advancing ones, as indicated by a BSE advance-decline ratio of 0.60.

Sectorally, it was a sea of red, except for the Nifty IT sector, which managed to stay in positive...