Raksha Bandhan 2026: Will NSE, BSE be closed on August 28? Check stock market holiday

Indian equity markets will remain open for trading on Friday, August 28, despite Raksha Bandhan being observed on the day. The festival is not listed as a trading holiday in the 2026 holiday calendars of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE.

Trading will continue across the Equity, Equity Derivatives, Currency Derivatives, NDS-RST and Tri Party Repo segments on August 28, according to the holiday calendars published by NSE and BSE.

The commodity market will also remain open on Friday. August 28 is not included as a holiday in the Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) trading holiday calendar.

Stock market holidays in 2026

The next scheduled trading holiday is September 14 for Ganesh Chaturthi. Then, markets will remain closed on October 2 for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti and October 20 for Dussehra.

In November, the exchanges will observe two trading holidays -- November 10 for Diwali-Balipratipada and November 24 for Prakash Gurpurb Sri Guru Nanak Dev.

The last scheduled trading holiday of 2026 is December 25 for Christmas.

Market outlook

Aditya Agarwal, Head of Investment at Coherent Wealth, said the medium- to long-term outlook for the market remains bullish, while the near-term trend could see some weakness.

"We are expecting that Nifty may come towards 24,000 level. If the index breaks below 24,000, then another 300-400 points correction could be there. That kind of dip is something which we are advising our clients to buy," Agarwal told Business Today.

Previous close

Indian equity benchmarks ended Thursday's session lower, tracking mixed global cues and selling in heavyweight stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 539.35 points, or 0.70 per cent, to settle at 76,933.59. The NSE Nifty declined 116.90 points, or 0.48 per cent, to close at 24,090.85.

Metal, banking and FMCG stocks were among the key sectoral laggards, while pharma stocks remained relatively resilient. The broader market was also subdued, with midcap and smallcap indices ending flat to negative.