The Indian financial market will be closed on March 31 on the occasion of Shri Mahavir Jayanti, halting all trading activities in the equity segment for the day. Both BSE and NSE will be closed on this day, the first of two market closures scheduled for this week. The second closure will take place on April 3, which is Good Friday.
Equity markets fully closed, MCX follows a split session
While equity markets are completely shut, the commodity segment operates on a partial schedule. The Multi-Commodity Exchange of India has suspended trading in its morning session. However, trading will resume in the evening session from 5 pm and will go on till 11:30 pm or 11:55 pm, depending on the contract.
This will enable participants in bullion, crude, and metal segments to take cues from global price movements in the evening, unlike equity investors who are completely out of action throughout the day.
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Holiday-shortened week raises timing risks
A week with two trading holidays is a time of high uncertainty, particularly for short-term traders and derivatives players. Any significant global events during these non-trading days may not directly impact domestic markets.
As a result, when markets resume trading, there may be a significant gap-up or a gap-down movement in the indices. Under these situations, stop-losses may not occur at expected levels; there is limited scope for adjustments. Ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia, fluctuations in crude oil prices, and significant economic events from the US are some of the risk factors.
Gold slips, silver shows strength
In the commodity space, the closing levels of gold futures were marginally lower last week at Rs 1.44 lakh per 10 grams. On the other hand, silver futures gained Rs 1,182, or 0.52%, and closed at Rs 2.27 lakh per kilogram on the MCX exchange.
Domestic bullion prices were supported by the weakening of the Indian rupee against the US dollar last week, which dipped by over 1% during the week. Meanwhile, globally, gold futures dipped by nearly 2%, but silver futures rebounded due to demand from China.
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Markets ended lower ahead of closure
Indian stocks closed lower on the last trading day before the holiday week. On March 30, the BSE Sensex closed with a loss of 1,635.67 points to settle at 71,947.55. The Nifty 50 closed with a loss of 488.20 points to settle at 22,331.40.
Indices like the Midcap and the small cap fell by 2.6 per cent each. Stocks like Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and State Bank of India were the major losers, while stocks like Hindalco Industries and ONGC reported gains.
