Business
Sensex, Nifty slip in early trade as Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike weighs on IT stocks
Technology giants felt the impact most, with Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, and TCS falling between 2.26% and 3.88%
Equity benchmark indices opened lower on Monday, 22 September, as a sharp sell-off in technology counters dragged the market down following US President Donald Trump’s decision to sharply raise H-1B visa fees.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 475.16 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 82,151.07 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty shed 88.95 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 25,238.10.
Technology majors bore the brunt of the decline, with Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech and Tata Consultancy Services slipping between 2.26 per cent and 3.88 per cent. Sun Pharma, Bharat Electronics, Axis Bank and Tata Steel also traded in the red.
On the other hand, Adani Ports, Eternal, Trent and Bajaj Finance emerged among the gainers, providing some support to the indices.
The weakness followed Trump’s Friday proclamation raising the fee for new H-1B visa applications to USD 100,000 per worker. The visa programme is widely used by Indian IT companies to place skilled professionals in the United States. A White House official clarified on Saturday that the new fee will apply only to fresh applicants.
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VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said the market is likely to “witness a dualistic behaviour today, with the IT sector getting impacted by the H-1B visa issue and domestic consumption themes responding positively to the potential boost from lower GST rates kicking in from today.”
Asian markets presented a mixed picture, with South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Shanghai’s SSE Composite trading higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged lower. US stocks ended Friday’s session on a positive note.
Brent crude futures rose 0.66 per cent to USD 67.12 a barrel. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian equities on Friday, purchasing shares worth Rs 390.74 crore, according to exchange data.
On the previous session, the Sensex had slipped 387.73 points, or 0.47 per cent, to close at 82,626.23, while the Nifty fell 96.55 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 25,327.05.
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