MUMBAI — India’s benchmark stock exchanges, the BSE and NSE, remained closed Tuesday in observance of Mahavir Jayanti.
The holiday is one of several scheduled market closures this year, with 11 additional trading holidays remaining, excluding weekends.
In the commodities segment, the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) suspended trading during the morning session from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Trading is set to resume in the evening session from 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., according to the exchange. Meanwhile, the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) remained closed for the entire day.
Mahavir Jayanti marks the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira and is observed by Jain communities around the world.
The market holiday comes at a time of heightened global uncertainty, with geopolitical tensions contributing to recent volatility in equities.
Domestic markets have faced pressure from continued foreign institutional investor outflows, macroeconomic concerns, and weakness in the rupee.
At the same time, global developments remain mixed. The U.S. president has indicated that the conflict with Iran may be nearing an end, while tensions in West Asia have persisted for several weeks.
Despite the broader uncertainty, GIFT Nifty futures, an early indicator of India’s benchmark index, were trading higher by about 1 percent, or 250 points, at 22,690 as of 9:10 a.m.
Global markets showed a weaker trend. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 declined 0.39 percent and the Nasdaq fell 0.73 percent in the previous session.
Across Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was down about 0.23 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.24 percent, and South Korea’s KOSPI dropped roughly 2 percent.
Oil prices also moved lower, with Brent crude falling as much as 2.37 percent to $104.84 per barrel during intraday trading, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined about 2 percent to $100.83 per barrel. (Source: IANS)
