Stock market holidays in March 2024, Mahashivratri Holiday: Stock exchanges BSE and NSE will remain shut on March 8 on account of Mahashivratri. Trading in derivatives, equities, SLBs, and currency derivatives, as well as the interest rate derivatives segment, will remain shut for the day.
The commodity derivatives segment is also closed for morning trading on March 8 but will open for the evening session. MCX conducts morning sessions from 9 am to 5 pm, and evening sessions from 5 pm to 11:30/11:55 pm.
Trading on both NSE and BSE will resume on Monday, March 11.
What is Mahashivratri?
As per Drik Panchang, Shivaratri is a festival of the convergence of Shiva and Shakti.
Stock Market Holidays In March
Stock exchanges BSE and NSE will also be closed on March 25 on the occasion of Holi, Friday, and March 29, on account of Good Friday.
On March 7, the market failed to build on the opening gains and ended a rangebound session on a flat note. The benchmark indices climbed to fresh all-time highs in the opening trade with the Nifty surpassing 22,500 for the first time.
The BSE Sensex touched a fresh record high of 74,245.17, but ended 33.40 points (0.05 per cent) higher at 74,119.39, while Nifty50 index also hit a new high of 22,525.65 and closed 19.50 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 22,493.50.
In the truncated week, BSE Sensex and Nifty rose 0.5 per cent each.
Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto, Tata Consumer, Tata Motors and JSW Steel were among the top Nifty gainers, while losers were M&M, BPCL, Reliance Industries, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.
Among sectors, bank, oil and gas, auto and realty ended in the red, while metals, capital goods, media and FMCG were 1-2.5 per cent each. The BSE MidCap index added 0.3 per cent and SmallCap index rose 0.7 per cent.
“The Nifty opened on a flat note and consolidated during the day. It closed marginally in the green up 19 points. On the daily charts, we can observe that the Nifty held on to the gains and consolidated before an extended weekend. The consolidation is a brief pause in the overall uptrend, and we expect the up-move to resume in the coming week,” said Jatin Gedia, technical research analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
“In the case of a dip towards 22,390–22,340, it should be used as a buying opportunity as key hourly moving averages are placed in this range and can attract buying interest. On the upside, 22,570–22,600 shall act as an immediate hurdle zone from a short-term perspective,” he said.
On Thursday, the Indian Rupee ended higher at 82.78 per US Dollar as against Wednesday’s close of 82.83.
“The rupee exhibited strength, gaining 0.10 to reach 82.76, supported by a weak dollar, trading below 103.20. Additionally, crude prices experienced a slight decline, dropping by 1.15 per cent. With the basing range seemingly broken in USDINR on the lower end, the rupee appears poised to continue its positive momentum, potentially targeting the 82.50 zone ahead,” said Jateen Trivedi, VP and research analyst at LKP Securities.