Buy or sell stocks, Aug. 19 -- Unresolved tensions in West Asia, coupled with concerns that persistently high crude oil prices could hurt India's macroeconomic fundamentals and corporate earnings, continued to dampen sentiment in the domestic equity market.

The benchmark Sensex plunged 493 points, or 0.63%, to close at 77,235.46 on Tuesday, August 18. Meanwhile, the NSE's Nifty 50 extended its losing streak to a sixth straight session, declining 133 points, or 0.55%, to settle at 24,154.90.

Nifty remained under pressure throughout the session, opening weak at 24,223.85 and failing to build any meaningful recovery. After marking a marginal high of 24,269.65, the index faced sustained selling and gradually slipped to the day's low of 24,1...