By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -India’s stock benchmarks fell for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, their longest losing streak since mid-July, as concerns over the impact of U.S. visa curbs continued to weigh.
The Nifty 50 lost 0.45% to 25,056.90 while the BSE Sensex shed 0.47% to 81,715.63. The 50-stock index has lost 1.4% over four sessions, while the Sensex is down 1.6%.
Fifteen of the 16 major sectors fell on the day while the broader smallcaps and midcaps lost 0.7% and 1%, respectively.
The information technology index fell 0.7%, taking its losses to 4.3% since the U.S. imposed a $100,000 fee for new H-1B visa applications on Sunday. The market value of the 10 companies on the sub-index has dropped 1.2 trillion rupees ($13.5 billion) this week.
The IT sector, which is reliant on the U.S. for a large chunk of its revenue, sends workers onshore to work on client projects. On Tuesday, the U.S. released a proposal that would rework the H-1B visa selection process to favour higher-skilled and better-paid workers.
India is also hoping to accelerate talks for a trade deal with the U.S. after the latter imposed tariffs of up to 50% on its shipments.
“Sustained foreign selling has pressured Indian markets, driven by concerns over the $100,000 H-1B visa fee hike by the U.S. and uncertainty surrounding bilateral trade negotiations,” said Devarsh Vakil, head of prime research at HDFC Securities.
“IT stocks have borne the brunt of the selloff as investors factored in potential margin compression risks for outsourcing companies.”
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth about $400 million on Tuesday, the highest this month. They have sold $643 million in four days.
On the day, high-weight financials fell 0.6% while auto stocks lost 1.2%, following a recent rally.
Tata Motors lost 2.6% on the extension of a JLR factory closure.
($1 = 88.6890 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
