Market Wrap, Sept 22: SENSEX sheds 466 points, NIFTY50 ends at 25,202 amid IT stock sell-off; VIX spikes 6%

The Indian stock market closed lower on Monday, September 22, primarily weighed down by IT stocks after the US announced a steep annual fee on new H-1B visa petitions.

The US President Donald Trump signed the executive order to raise the fees of H1-B visa holders to $100,000 annually. The new executive order is expected to adversely impact all IT companies that have their professionals working in the US on H1-B visas.

The small-cap index also underperformed, led by declines in Zensar Technologies (-5.87%), Kfin Technologies (-5.21%) and Cyient (-3.88%).

On Friday, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth ₹390.74 crore, while the domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,105.22 crore on a net basis, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors have pulled out ₹7,945 crore from Indian equities so far in September, weighed down by global uncertainties such as tariffs and persistent geopolitical tensions.

Globally, other indices in Asia settled mixed on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed 0.66% lower, while South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.67%, Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.07%, and the Shanghai Composite also rose 0.22%.

As many as 3,206 stocks traded on the NSE on Monday. Out of this, only 1,186 advanced, and 1,920 declined, while 100 scrips remained unchanged.

This indicated that the market breadth was in favour of declines.

A total of 107 stocks hit their 52-week highs, while 53 stocks touched their one-year lows. Besides, 122 stocks hit their upper circuit limits, and 75 touched their lower circuit bands on Monday.

NSE-listed firms' market capitalisation stood at ₹461.78 lakh crore at the end of the session.

The volatility index India VIX rose 5.91% to end at 10.56 levels.

Dragged down by Mphasis (-4.7%), LTIMindtree (-4.6%), and Coforge (-4.46%), the Nifty IT index emerged as the biggest loser, falling 2.95%.

Other major laggards included Nifty Pharma (-1.41%), Nifty Consumer Durables (-0.62%), Nifty FMCG (-0.47%), and Nifty PSU Bank (-0.36%).

Nifty Media (-0.48%) and Nifty Metal (-0.39%) were the only gainers among sectoral gauges.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index declined 1.17% to end at 18,288.90 levels, while the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at the 58,699.50 level, slipping 0.67%.

Tech Mahindra was the biggest losing stock, falling 3%, followed by Tata Consultancy Services (-2.96%), Infosys (-2.55%), Cipla (-2.14%) and Wipro (2.11%).

On the flip side, Adani Enterprises (3.98%), Eternal (1.6%), Bajaj Finance (1.37%), Adani Ports (1.2%) and UltraTech Cement (1.10%) were the top gainers on the 50-share index.