Despite the rise in Asian markets, the Indian stock market declined drastically in the first trading session of the week on Monday (22 September). US President Donald Trump announced major changes in immigration rules. This increased the selling pressure in the stock markets. IT stocks fell drastically and the Nifty IT index fell more than 3%.
Trump signed an executive order over the weekend, under which the H-1B visa application fee was increased from the earlier $ 2,000-5,000 to $ 1,00,000. The White House clarified that it would be a lump sum payment and will be effective from September 21. This decision may put pressure on the profits of Indian outsourcing companies.
The 30 -share BSE Sensex opened 450 points to open at 82,151.07. However, soon after opening, there was a slight recovery in the index. At 9:23 am, the Sensex was trading at 82,365.23 with a decline of 261 points. Similarly, the Nifty-50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened with a huge decline at 25,238. At 9:24 am it was trading at 25,278, declining 48 points or 0.19 percent.
New H1-B visa rules stirred up IT sector
On 19 September, US President Donald Trump suddenly issued a new order to increase the H1-B visa fee. This created an atmosphere of anxiety, nervousness and mistrust among thousands of Indian professionals working on the H1-B visa. Arun Kumar, a technical expert from South Tamil Nadu, has been working on an H1-B visa with a global company in Michigan for nearly 15 years. He came to Tamil Nadu for two weeks and was scheduled to return on 3 October. But then there was news of increase in visa fee, which he described as “Donald Trump’s blow”.
Global market
Meanwhile, after a telephone conversation between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the positive atmosphere was seen in most Asian stock markets. Trump said he would meet Xi Jinping during the upcoming Asian Economic Cooperation Summit.
Japan’s Nikkei rose by 1.4 percent after Bank of Japan (BOJ) announced a plan to sell its huge exchange-traded fund holdings. South Korea’s cospie rose 0.9 percent.
Wall Street’s shares closed on Friday with an increase in interest rates in policy meetings and expectations of deduction. The S&P 500 index and the tech-based Nasdaq closed down 0.49 percent and 0.72 percent respectively.
IPO today
In the main board segment, the issue of iValue Infoseloration will be closed today, while the IPO of GK Energy and Satvik Green Energy will enter its second day. The issue of Atlanta Electricals and Ganesh consumer products will open for subscription today. In the SME segment, four issues including listing of Tekdi cybercharity will open for subscription today.
GST 2.0 will be applicable from today
With the onset of Navratri, the government has reduced GST rates on essential commodities and vehicles from today. This change has made everyday essential things and vehicles cheap, which has directly benefited the common consumers. Under GST reforms, the government has reduced four slabs to just two main slabs – 5% and 18%. In addition, a new tax bracket of 40% for over-disbursement goods has also been introduced. This change will affect the purchasing power and consumers will get goods at low prices before.