Mumbai, March 31 (IANS) Domestic stock exchanges BSE and NSE will remain closed on Tuesday on account of Shri Mahavir Jayanti.
In addition, the bourses will have 11 more days of official holidays this year, except Saturdays and Sundays.
In commodities, the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) will remain closed during the morning session — 9 am to 5 pm — on Tuesday due to the festival.
However, trading will resume in the evening session from 5 pm to 11:30 pm, according to the exchange. Meanwhile, the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) will remain closed for the entire day.
Mahavir Jayanti, marking the 2624th birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira, is being celebrated by Jain communities worldwide.
The market holiday comes amid heightened global geopolitical tensions that have triggered a sharp sell-off in equities.
Domestic markets have been under pressure due to sustained foreign institutional investor (FII) outflows, macroeconomic concerns, and continued weakness in the rupee.
However, the US President has indicated repeatedly that the war with Iran is over or nearing an end, while the West Asia conflict has been ongoing for a month, entering its fifth week.
Against this backdrop, GIFT Nifty futures — an early indicator of the Nifty index — traded higher by about 1 per cent or 250 points at 22,690 as of 9:10 am.
Meanwhile, on the global front, Wall Street ended on lower with the S&P 500 declining 0.39 per cent and the Nasdaq closed 0.73 per cent down.
In the Asian markets, Nikkei was trading 100 points or 0.23 per cent down, Hang Seng slipped more than 50 points or 0.24 per cent, and KOSPI slumped about 2 per cent.
Oil prices also witnessed sharp losses, with Brent crude futures declining as much as 2.37 per cent to $104.84 per barrel — an intra-day low as of 8:49 am. US WTI futures also fell 2 per cent to $100.83 per barrel.
–IANS
ag/na
