By Vivek Kumar M
(Reuters) -Indian equity benchmarks fell to a three-week low on Friday, logging their steepest weekly drop in nearly seven months, as U.S. curbs on H-1B visas and tariffs on branded drugs dampened sentiment.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.95% on the day to 24,654.7, while the BSE Sensex dropped 0.9% to 80,426.46. Both indexes lost 2.7% for the week.
All 16 major sectors ended lower, with IT and pharmaceuticals hit the hardest on concerns over their U.S. exposure.
The IT index sank nearly 8% for the week, its steepest fall in about seven months, after President Donald Trump imposed a $100,000 fee on new H1-B visas.
Analysts said the move could raise operating costs for Indian IT firms, which earn a large share of their revenue from the U.S.
Sentiment worsened on Friday after tech bellwether Accenture’s full-year revenue outlook indicated that IT companies will continue to face sluggish demand ahead.
While IT stocks have been dragging Indian markets this week, Trump turned his attention to the pharma sector out of the blue on Thursday, said Vinit Bolinjkar, head of research at Ventura Securities.
The pharma index slid 2.1% on Friday and 5.2% for the week after Trump announced a 100% levy on branded and patented drugs, effective October 1.
“While we do not have major share in patented drug exports, things are not looking good for market given the string of negative newsflows around export-oriented sectors,” said Pankaj Pandey, head of retail research at ICICI Securities.
Foreign investors sold Indian shares worth approximately $1.4 billion this week till Thursday, resuming the sell-off after two weeks of buying, due to likely uncertainty emerging from Trump’s actions on H-1B visas and pharma tariffs.
The broader mid-caps and small-caps dropped 4.6% and 5.1%, respectively, for the week.
Bucking the trend, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro rose 2.3% on Friday after exiting the loss-making Hyderabad Metro rail project.
(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
