Stock Market Holidays In January 2025: Is Trading Closed Or Opened On Makar Sankranti, January 14?

Stock Market Holiday 2025: The current week is packed with a host of celebrations in many regions of India, holding significant value right from Lohri on January 13th to Makar Sankranti on January 14, 2025. Apart from this, a host of other festivals have lined up on Tuesday. That is why RBI has already declared January 14th a bank holiday, but does that mean the stock market in India will be closed as well?

Stock Market Holiday 2025:

Why is Makar Sankranti celebrated in India? Makar(a) Sankrānti also referred to as Uttarāyana, Makara, or simply Sankrānti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of 14 January annually (15 January on a leap year). This occasion marks the transition of the sun from the zodiac of Sagittarius (dhanu) to Capricorn (makara). Since the sun has made this transition which coincides with moving from south to north, the festival is dedicated to the solar deity, Surya, and is observed to mark a new beginning. Many multi-day festivals are organised on this occasion all over India, as per Wikipedia.

Hence, many states and even RBI observed Makar Sankranti as a public and bank holiday. But stock market holidays in India are different, and sometimes they do align with public and bank holidays. However, share market holidays are fewer compared to these, but all national holidays are compulsory across the country including markets, banks and the public.

That being said, as per the BSE and NSE holidays list for 2025, there is no stock market holiday on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. Thereby, trading in equity, equity derivatives, derivatives, commodities, bonds, rupee and other market related instruments will be opened on January 14.

Stock Market Weekly Outlook:

During the last week, the Indian stock market witnessed profit booking with Sensex and Nifty falling by about 2% each.

Amol Athawale, VP-Technical Research, Kotak Securities said, that in the last week, the benchmark indices witnessed profit booking at higher levels. The Nifty ended 2.4 per cent lower, while the Sensex was down by 1848 points. Among sectors, the IT index outperformed, gaining over 1.9 per cent, whereas the PSU Banks and Realty indices lost the most, shedding over 6 per cent. During this week, the market breached the 200-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) support zone, and post-breakdown, selling pressure intensified.

Meanwhile, Puneet Singhania, Director at Master Trust Group highlighted that all major indices are now trading below their crucial 200-day EMA, highlighting persistent bearish momentum. The sharp decline in the market is attributed to multiple factors, including sustained foreign investor outflows, subdued expectations for Q3 earnings, continued weakness in the Indian rupee against the U.S. dollar, and rising U.S. 10-year bond yields, which have driven FIIs towards the U.S. bond market. Additionally, a strengthening dollar index and a sharp rebound in crude oil prices, raising inflationary concerns, further dampened investor sentiment. In the domestic market, FIIs remained net sellers, offloading ₹16,854 crore in the cash segment. However, DIIs provided strong support, with net inflows of ₹21,682 crore, partially cushioning the market's fall.

Giving technical outlook, Athawale said, market has it has formed a long bearish candle on the weekly charts and is holding a lower top formation on the intraday charts, which is largely negative. We are of the view that the current market texture is weak but oversold; hence, a strong possibility of a pullback rally from the current levels is not ruled out.

For short-term traders, 23600/77800 would be the key level to watch. Above this level, the pullback move could continue till 23800/78500.

Further upside may also persist, potentially pushing the market up to the 200-day SMA or 24000/78800. On the flip side, if the market falls below 23350/77100, selling pressure is likely to accelerate. Below which, the market could slip to the 23250-23100/76800-76500 range, he added.

For Bank Nifty, he said, the short-term formation is weak, and a pullback rally is possible only after a decisive break above 49500. If this level is surpassed, it could bounce back to the 50000-50200 range. Conversely, as long as it trades below 49600, weak sentiment is likely to continue. On the downside, 48300 and 48000 are key support zones for traders.