More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025

By Simran Rede

MUMBAI – The Nifty 50 closed below 25000 points for the first time in 10 sessions, as market participants continued to book profits for the fifth consecutive session Thursday. Information technology, banking, and financial services stocks continued to be under selling pressure for the second day. The market sentiment remains weak after the hike in US H1-B visa fees and the application process, analysts said.

ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries were a major drag on the 50-stock index throughout the day. In the last half hour of the session, the Nifty 50 breached the crucial support level of 24900 points as index heavyweight HDFC Bank reversed its gains and closed 0.1% lower. The index closed the day at 24890.85 points, down 166.05 points or 0.7%. The BSE Sensex ended at 81159.68 points, down 555.95 points or 0.7%.

The Nifty 50 and Sensex closed lower for the fifth straight session after rising for the previous three continuous sessions. Only nine of the 50 stocks in the Nifty 50 closed in the green Thursday. The market breadth was sharply negative, with 68% of the stocks traded on the NSE closing in the red and only 29% of them ending higher.

The hike in H1-B visas for employing foreign workers is widely expected to impact margins of Indian IT companies. However, analysts don't expect this impact to be huge. The new fees are projected to drag down the operating margins of Indian companies by 10-20 basis points in the next financial year, Crisil said in a report. "These companies, which had operating margins of (around) 22% last fiscal, are likely to share the incremental cost with clients. The pass-through is estimated at 30-70%," the ratings agency said. The Nifty IT index closed 1.3% lower and was the second-worst hit among the sectoral indices. Of the 10 Nifty IT constituents, only LTIMindtree closed in the positive.

The persistent outflow of foreign investments and uncertainty over US-India trade deal are expected to dent the country's GDP growth in the September quarter, analysts said. "The rejig in GST (goods and services tax) slabs to boost economic growth has not helped much, as investors are more worried about the pending US-India trade deal and the falling rupee against the dollar," Prashanth Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities, said in a note.

Most defence stocks closed higher, with the Nifty India Defence index rising 0.7%. Bharat Electronics, Cochin Shipyard, BEML, and Hindustan Aeronautics rose 1-2% and were among the top gainers in the Nifty India Defence. The Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth INR 623.70 billion with Hindustan Aeronautics to procure 97 light combat aircraft Mk1A for the Indian Air Force, including 68 fighters and 29 twin seaters.

The Nifty Metal rose 0.2% and was the top gaining sectoral index. The commerce ministry's investigation arm Directorate General of Trade Remedies has recommended the imposition of anti-dumping duty for five years on import of certain Chinese cranes, with an aim to guard domestic players from cheap inbound shipments.

Tata Motors ended nearly 3% lower and was among the worst hit in the Nifty 50. The stock was mostly down in the previous sessions after a report by Reuters late Tuesday said the company's UK-based subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover's production in factories will be halted till Oct. 1. However, analysts said since the demand for Jaguar Land Rover-made vehicles is subdued, it would not have a major impact on the subsidiary's sales. However, this halt would definitely create supply chain disruptions, the company had said.

Power Grid Corp. of India and Trent were the worst performers in the Nifty 50, falling over 3% each. Bharat Electronics and Hero MotoCorp rose over 1% and were the top gainers in the index. Shares of all Adani group companies rose early in the day, but closed mixed. Adani Power rose 3% and was the top gainer in the Nifty 200. On the other hand, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone ended down 1.7%.

Shares of Newgen Software Technologies rose nearly 4% after its subsidiary secured a big order from Tata Consultancy Services' Belgian arm. The stock was among the top gainers in the Nifty 500 in the early trade.

Dixon Technologies (India) rose 0.2%. Global brokerage UBS has upgraded its rating on the stock to 'buy' from 'neutral' and raised its price target to INR 23,000 from INR 13,000, marking a 77% rise in the target. This price implies an over 26% upside to the stock's closing price.

Shares of Gujarat Pipavav Port rose 2%. JM Financial Institutional Securities has upgraded the stock to 'add' from 'hold and raised the target price by over 2.4% to INR 168. Container Corp. of India fell 0.2% after the brokerage downgraded the stock to 'reduce' from 'hold' and trimmed its target price by nearly 2% to INR 500.

Shares of iValue Infosolutions closed 5.7% lower at INR 281.85 after listing at INR 284.95 on the National Stock Exchange, a discount of nearly 5% to the issue price of INR 299. 

* Of the Nifty 50 stocks, 9 rose and 41 fell
* Of the Sensex stocks, 5 rose and 25 fell

* On the NSE, 912 stocks rose, 2,124 fell, and 89 were unchanged

* On the BSE, 1,474 stocks rose, 2,705 fell, and 140 were unchanged

* Nifty Realty: down 1.7%; Nifty IT: down 1.3%; Nifty India Defence: up 0.7%

BSE                                                NSE

Sensex: 81159.68, down 555.95 points or 0.7%       Nifty 50: 24890.85, down 166.05 points or 0.7%

End

Edited by Ashish Shirke

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2025. All rights reserved.