Mahashivratri Holiday: Benchmark Indices And Banks Closed On Friday

The stock market will remain closed on Friday, March 8, 2024. Both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will be observing the Mahashivratri holiday, resulting in no trading activity on that day.

The Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) will remain closed as well, but only for the morning session. Trading activities will resume during the evening session, which starts at 5:00 pm. The morning sessions, which usually operate from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, will be suspended for the holiday.

Domestic benchmark indices closed marginally higher after reaching new record levels during this shortened holiday week. On Thursday, both the benchmark indices witnessed marginal gains, with the Sensex finishing at 74,119, an increase of 33 points, while Nifty 50 concluded at 22,493, recording a rise of nearly 20 points.

Mid and small-cap shares also closed in positive territory. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 0.22 per cent, equivalent to 108 points, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 surged by 0.85 per cent or 132 points.

Mahashivratri marks one of the three stock market holidays in March month. Following Mahashivratri, the stock market in India will observe closures on March 25, 2024, for Holi, and on March 29, 2024, for Good Friday.

In April, there will be two stock market holidays falling on the 11 and 17 dates of the month. Both the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed on the respective dates, for Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id) and Ram Navmi.

Meanwhile, both private and public banks across various states will also remain closed in cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Hyderabad (AP and Telangana), Jammu, Kanpur, Kochi, among others.