(Reuters) -India’s equity benchmarks opened lower on Wednesday, as investors assessed the impact of U.S. visa curbs, while persistent foreign outflows and lingering valuation concerns kept sentiment subdued.
The Nifty 50 lost 0.36% to 25,079.5 and the BSE Sensex shed 0.33% to 81,826.1 as of 9:20 a.m. IST.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors logged losses at open. The broader small-caps and mid-caps lost about 0.4% each.
The 50-stock Nifty has declined 1% in the last three sessions, with information technology stocks driving this week’s sell-off after the U.S. imposed a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications.
On Tuesday, the U.S. released a proposal aimed at reworking the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers. Indians made up 71% of approved H-1B beneficiaries last year.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) led the selling on Tuesday, offloading shares worth 35.51 billion rupees ($399.9 million), per provisional data. This was their biggest single-day sale in India in September.
($1 = 88.7880 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Janane Venkatraman)
