Chip fears drag markets lower; IT stocks buck the trend
There was a global sell-off in semiconductor stocks, triggered by the blockbuster debut of China's CXMT on the Shanghai Star Market, where shares surged roughly 500 per cent,
Markets opened cautiously on Tuesday, July 28, with the Nifty 50 opening at 23,971.25 and the Sensex at 76,831.75, both slightly higher than their previous closes. The initial rise in global markets followed a strong recovery on Monday, despite a recent five-day losing streak. However, the primary reason for the cautious start was a global sell-off in semiconductor stocks.
This sell-off was triggered by China's ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) making a strong debut on the Shanghai Star Market, where shares surged about 500 percent, valuing the DRAM chipmaker at $540 billion. This news raised concerns that Chinese memory chips could reach customers like Apple sooner than expected. The decline affected major global technology companies, with Nvidia falling 5 percent, SanDisk plunging 11 percent, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropping 4.2 percent.
South Korea's KOSPI also dropped over 7 percent, with SK Hynix falling more than 10 percent and Samsung Electronics dropping over 8 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell more than 3 percent. On the domestic front, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued selling ₹1,688 crore, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) remained net buyers at ₹2,329 crore.
Despite these global trends, Indian IT majors outperformed the broader market, with TCS leading the gains at 3.03 percent. The overall sentiment remained cautious, with analysts noting that 23,800 is the critical support level to watch.
Written by urgent.news from Hindu BusinessLine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
