Fair holiday: All trading activities across the country will be closed today on the account of Eid-Ul-Fitr festival, including action on the stock exchanges. On Tuesday, May 3, all trading activities, including stock, currency and derivatives markets, will be closed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, or BSE, for the entire session, according to its website. Likewise, trading activities on the National Stock Exchange, or NSE, will also be suspended for the entire session today during Eid-Ul-Fitr. Markets resume trading on Wednesday, May 4.
According to the list of stock market holidays in 2022, the currency derivatives and interest rate derivatives segment will also be closed on Friday. However, for commodities traders, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) will open during the second half of the session from 5:00 PM to 11:30 PM. On the day itself, it is closed between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Likewise, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) will resume operations from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Meanwhile, Indian stocks started weak in May and followed weakness in Asian counterparts after a sell-off in US equities on Friday, as investors await an expected rate hike by the Federal Reserve this week.
IT and auto stocks were among the biggest barriers in the benchmark. Meanwhile, the BSE Smallcap Index lost about 1 percent. Analysts said the excessive volatility in the market is likely to continue for some time to come.
Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research (retail), Kotak Securities, said: “Early losses were primarily a response to the Wall Street slump on Friday, but markets recovered most of their early losses as investors covered some shorts ahead of The robust GST collections for April also calmed the nerves of investors, who are already hardest hit by the ongoing war and volatile oil prices. US Fed’s monetary policy announcement planned. The Nifty holds above the 16800 level, but at the same time shows no sustained momentum.”
Sensex settled at 56975.99 and lost 84.88 points or 0.15 percent, while Nifty lost 33.45 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 17,069.10. Throughout the day, indices traded in a tight range, but by the end of the day, bank stocks showed some recovery from their intraday lows.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices closed 0.45 percent and 0.8 percent lower, respectively. Sector-wise, the Nifty Metal and Private Bank indices were the biggest gainers on the NSE (gaining 0.5 percent each), while Nifty IT (down 1.5 percent) was the hardest hit.
S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP securities, said: “Markets opened the gap downward on weak global signals ahead of the FOMC meeting but managed to recoup most of the losses as factory output for April improved sequentially amid input cost inflation Banks led the recovery on expectations of higher credit growth this fiscal year and broader markets, despite being a little sluggish ahead of a trading holiday tomorrow, witnessed accumulation in select pockets such as standalone refineries and hospitality.
The exchanges will have a total of 13 public holidays in 2022, according to data available on the BSE website.
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