Indian Markets Open Lower; IT Stocks Fall On H-1B Fee Hike

Indian equity markets started the week on a cautious note, with the Nifty hovering near 25,300 as IT stocks bore the brunt of a sector-wide sell-off after the US hiked H-1B visa fees. 

At 09:40 a.m. IST, the Nifty 50 traded 15 points lower at 25,311, while the Sensex was down 120 points at 82,505. Broader markets outperformed, with the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices seeing marginal gains.

The retail sentiment on Stocktwits for the Nifty has shifted to ‘neutral’ at market open, down from ‘bullish’ last week. 

Stock Watch

Sectorally, the Nifty IT index was the biggest drag, with over 2% losses, followed by pharmaceuticals and consumer durables. On the other hand, autos saw buying as the GST 2.0 regime gets effective today. Metals and PSU banks also gained ground. 

Tech Mahindra, Coforge, Persistent, LTI Mindtree, and Mphasis were the biggest IT losers, falling over 3%. TCS, Infosys, and HCL Technologies saw 2% fall.

Adani Power surged 17% following its first-ever stock split today. Adani Enterprises is the top Nifty gainer, rising 3%. Jefferies has a Buy call with a target price of ₹3,000, suggesting a 18% upside. 

Swan Defence shares surged 5% after the company signed a ₹4,250 crore MoU with the Gujarat Maritime Board. GRSE shares rose 4% on signing a $62 million German contract for hybrid vessels 

Shipping Corporation shares rallied 7% on signing pacts with refiners BPCL, HPCL, and IOC for vessel operations. 

And Netweb Tech rose 6% following a ₹450 crore AI GPU order win.

Stock Calls

Analyst Vinayak Gautam shared three stock recommendations for Monday with a 1-week timeframe:

Godrej Properties – Buy at ₹2,145, with a target price of ₹2,280, and a stop loss of ₹2,080

Netweb – Buy at ₹3,279, with a target price of ₹3,500, and stop loss at ₹3,175

Power Grid – Buy at ₹286, with a target price of ₹296, and stop loss at ₹281

Markets: The Road Ahead

From a technical standpoint, SEBI-registered analysts on Stocktwits shared the trade setup. 

A&Y Market Research pegged the intraday Nifty resistance at 25,439 – 25,455, with support at 25,317 – 25,333. For Bank Nifty (Intraday), resistance is seen at 55,850 – 55,921, with support at 55,443 – 55,557.

Investment advisor Nidhi Saxena of The Trade Bond said that the short-term trend remains positive as long as the Nifty index sustains above the 25,000 level. For Bank Nifty, the short-term trend remains positive as long as the index sustains above the 55,000 level.

Global Cues

Globally, Asian markets traded mixed, while crude oil prices fell on renewed geopolitical tensions. 

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