Buy or sell stocks, July 31 -- The key benchmark indices of the Indian stock market extended their corrective phase for the second consecutive session on Wednesday, following the recent steep sell-off. The Nifty 50 index opened on a firm note but faced resistance near the 24,900 mark, triggering profit booking that dragged the index to an intraday low of 24,772 during the mid-session. However, a late-stage recovery helped the index pare losses settle at 24,855, registering a modest gain of 34 points or 0.14%. On the sectoral front, pressure was evident in media, auto, and realty counters, which declined between 0.5% and 1%.

Conversely, selective buying interest was observed in IT and FMCG pockets, with both indices ending marginally in t...