Mahashivratri Holiday 2024: Is Stock Market Open For Trading Today? All Details Here!

Trading in the stock market will be closed on Friday, March 8, 2024, due to the celebration of Mahashivratri across the country. Trading will be shut in equity, equity derivative, and SLB Segments. The currency derivatives segments will be closed. Yesterday, the Indian stock market closed at an all-time high.

On Marhc 7, 2024, Nifty and Sensex both achieved new records, closing above 22,500 and 74,100 respectively for the first time in history. Despite minor fluctuations, the market remained resilient, with notable gains in specific sectors and setbacks in others.

After the market hours on Thursday, the Sensex rose by 33 points, reaching 74,119, while the Nifty gained 20 points to settle at 22,494. However, the Nifty Bank saw a break in its six-day winning streak, falling 130 points to 47,836, even as the Midcap Index experienced a positive upswing, gaining 109 points to reach 48,966.

On market closing, Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities said, "Although markets once again hit new highs, it moved sideways intra-day in lacklustre trades before eking out modest gains on the back of selective buying in metals, capital goods and telecom stocks. However, weakness in banking, oil & gas and auto stocks tempered the gains."

Further, Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said that equity benchmark indices edged higher after hitting a record high amid a firm trend in the US market and FII inflows. Moreover, faster-than-expected economic growth for the current fiscal year boosted sentiments for metal and capital goods stocks. Meanwhile, global indices exhibited mixed sentiments, driven by the Fed's signals of hope for a potential rate cut this year. Further clarity on the labour market, anticipated with the release of non-farm payroll data on Friday, will offer insights into potential rate adjustments.

Markets Weekly Outlook For March 11-15th:

Nair said, that amidst mixed signals from the global market, the domestic market exhibited a range-bound movement but concluded on a positive note. Expectations of a rate cut from the Fed and declining bond yields prompted rational investors to shift towards equities, bolstering the market. An improved macroeconomic narrative favoured banking stocks, while uncertainties in the global market led to weakness in the IT sector. The extension of the Fame II scheme and higher demand forecasts for passenger vehicles led to heavy buying in auto stocks.

He added that faster-than-expected economic growth for the current fiscal year buoyed sentiments for metal and capital goods stocks, resulting in a rally in the respective sector indices. However, small and mid-cap stocks underwent corrections due to overvaluation, leading to profit booking and increased demand for large-cap stocks.

Furthermore, he said, "The ECB kept the rate status quo and will wait for further evidence confirming inflation control. The release of US payroll data and upcoming inflation data from the US, China, and India next week will provide investors with insights into the global macroeconomic outlook. We expect volatility to persist in the upcoming week due to high valuations and forthcoming policy rate guidance releases."

Also, Siddhartha Khemka, Head - of Retail Research, at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said, "Domestic markets will remain shut on Friday on account of the Shivratri Festival. Next Week investors will take cues from the outcome of the ECB interest rate meeting and US Non-Farm Payroll data to be released on Friday. Also, the second set of economic data would continue to drive the market sentiments. We expect Nifty to move towards 22700-22750 in the next few days with the ongoing rally focused towards large caps."

For when the market opens on Monday, Ajit Mishra, SVP - Technical Research, Religare Broking said, "We feel intermediate breathers are healthy as long as we do not see any major cut in the index. However, traders shouldn't get carried away with the prevailing trend in the benchmark and stay focused on stock selection and risk management. Besides, we reiterate our preference for index majors and large midcaps over the smallcap counters."

Apart from the stock market, Mahashivratri is also a bank and public holiday. A Hindu festival, Mahashivratri is celebrated every year to honour the deity Shiva and is observed on the fourteenth day of the dark half of the lunar month of Phalguna or Magha.