Indices end lower for second straight day

Falling for the second day in a row, Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Monday, dragged by IT and TECK stocks amid concerns over the US President Donald Trump's decision to raise H-1B visa fees to $1,00,000 per worker. Traders overlooked exchange data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors bought equities worth Rs 390.74 crore on a net basis on Friday. 

Some of the important factors in trade:

Retail inflation for farm workers up at 1.07% in August: The labour ministry in its latest data has said that retail inflation for farm and rural workers increased to 1.07 per cent and 1.26 per cent in August 2025 from 0.77 per cent and 1.01 per cent, respectively, in July. 

Govt launches Logistics Data Bank 2.0 to boost India’s digital trade, export competitiveness: Advancing India’s journey toward a digitally empowered, investment-ready, and export-competitive economy, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has launched Logistics Data Bank (LDB) 2.0. LDB 2.0 will provide critical insights into the availability of facilities and infrastructure across the logistics ecosystem. 

US decision to raise H-1B visa fees likely to hurt America more than India: The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) has said that a decision of the US President Donald Trump to raise H-1B visa fees to $100,000 per worker is likely to hurt America more than India. It said that Indian IT firms already employ 50-80 per cent locals in the US, about 100,000 Americans in total.

Rupee falls against US Dollar: Indian rupee depreciated against the US dollar, as investors weighed Trump's H-1B visa fee hike impact on Indian remittances amid heightened risk-averse sentiment.

Global front: European markets were trading mostly in red as investors awaited a key U.S. inflation reading as well as comments from several Federal Reserve officials this week for additional clues on the Federal Reserve's rate trajectory. Asian markets settled mostly higher as investors wondered how U.S. President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration will reshape the world's largest economy in the short and long term. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 466.26 points or 0.56% to 82,159.97 and the CNX Nifty was down by 124.70 points or 0.49% to 25,202.35.     

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 82,583.16 and 81,997.29 respectively. There were 9 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.  

The broader indices ended in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.78%, while Small cap index was down by 0.71%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 2.56%, Power up by 1.66%, Metal up by 0.39%, Oil & Gas up by 0.36% and Basic Materials up by 0.02%, while IT down by 2.73%, TECK down by 2.09%, Healthcare down by 1.08%, Capital Goods down by 0.77% and Industrials down by 0.75% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Eternal up by 1.55%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.31%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.17%, Ultratech Cement up by 0.98% and Axis Bank up by 0.73%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.20%, TCS down by 3.02%, Infosys down by 2.61%, HCL Technologies down by 1.84% and Tata Motors down by 1.69% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Advancing India’s journey toward a digitally empowered, investment-ready, and export-competitive economy, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has launched Logistics Data Bank (LDB) 2.0. LDB 2.0 will provide critical insights into the availability of facilities and infrastructure across the logistics ecosystem. The system will enable real-time tracking and assessment of logistics performance, supporting better planning, higher efficiency, and cost reduction. 

The Minister noted that the initiative will serve as an important tool for both industry and government to strengthen competitiveness, improve supply chain management, and make logistics in India more efficient and business-friendly. Developed by NICDC Logistics Data Services (NLDSL), LDB 2.0 is a significantly enhanced logistics tracking platform that enables export container tracking on high seas along with multi-modal shipment visibility. The platform strengthens India’s digital trade infrastructure, supports MSMEs and exporters, and reflects the government’s commitment to building a transparent, data-driven, and globally competitive logistics ecosystem aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047.

LDB 2.0 introduces high-seas container tracking, allowing exporters to track containers even after departure from Indian ports across international waters, improving coordination and enhancing credibility in global markets. It also offers multi-modal visibility across road, rail, and sea using container, truck, or trailer numbers, as well as railway FNRs through integration with Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) APIs. A live container heatmap provides location-based views of container distribution across the country, helping stakeholders and policymakers identify imbalances and respond proactively to potential bottlenecks.

The CNX Nifty touched high and low of 25,331.70 and 25,151.05 respectively. There were 17 stocks advancing against 31 stocks declining, while 2 stocks remained unchanged on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were Adani Enterprises up by 3.98%, Eternal up by 1.60%, Bajaj Finance up by 1.37%, Adani Ports &SEZ up by 1.20% and Ultratech Cement up by 1.10%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 3.00%, TCS down by 2.96%, Infosys down by 2.55%, Cipla down by 2.14% and Wipro down by 2.11% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading mostly in red; France’s CAC fell 32.69 points or 0.42% to 7,820.90 and Germany’s DAX lost 174.91 points or 0.74% to 23,464.50, while UK’s FTSE 100 increased 4.09 points or 0.04% to 9,220.76.