Dalal Street took a hit this week as more than 440 out of 500 stocks on the BSE 500 ended in red after two heavy blows from US President Donald Trump. The BSE 500 index dropped 3.3% while 17 names fell by double digits and lost as much as 14%. All sectors closed lower on the week, led by IT shares, followed by real estate, consumer and healthcare stocks.The first hit came on September 19, when Trump signed an executive order raising the annual H-1B visa application fee from $1,000 to $100,000 per applicant. After the announcement, IT stocks were the worst affected. The second setback landed this Friday (26 September), when the US president announced tariffs of up to 100% on imports of “branded and patented” medicines, effective October 1, triggering a sell-off in pharma counters.Coforge, a tier-2 IT firm, was the week’s biggest loser, dropping 14%. Caplin Point Laboratories and Avanti Feeds followed with declines of 13% and 12%. Other heavy fallers included Mphasis, Redington, Balrampur Chini Mills, KRBL, Wockhardt, Kalyan Jewellers India and Sumitomo Chemical India, each down between 10% and 12%. Well-tracked names such as Laurus Labs, Mastek, Aarti Drugs, Praj Industries, Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy, Nesco and Persistent Systems also lost in double digits.Despite the gloom, 44 stocks ended higher. Tata Investment Corporation jumped 18%, while Hindustan Copper gained 10.4%. NLC India, IFB Industries, Deepak Fertilisers, Minda Corporation, AU Small Finance Bank, Adani Power, CSB Bank and Asahi India Glass ranked among the top gainers, with rises ranging from 3% to 8.4%.Adani shares also stayed in focus after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) cleared Gautam Adani and group firms of Hindenburg Research’s allegations of violations involving related-party transactions and fund diversion.The Sensex fell 2.7% during the week, weighed down by big names such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys, which slid nearly 9% and 6%. Tech Mahindra led the losses at over 9%, while Trent, Asian Paints and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) were each down more than 5%. Out of 30 Sensex stocks, only three finished in positive territory, Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.5%), Axis Bank (up 1.6%) and Larsen & Toubro (up 1.5%).By sector, the hardest hit were BSE IT (-7.3%), BSE Realty (-6%), BSE Consumer Durables (-5%), BSE Healthcare (-5%), BSE Capital Goods (-4%), BSE Auto (-2.9%) and BSE FMCG (-3%). The BSE Midcap index shed 4.3%, while the BSE Smallcap index dropped 4.5%.Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned heavy sellers, offloading shares worth Rs 19,570 crore this week. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), on the other hand, bought equities worth Rs 16,200 crore.
