Stock market holiday: BSE, NSE to remain closed today on account of Ram Navami

Indian equity benchmarks would be closed on Wednesday, as per the BSE website, to mark Ram Navami. The equity segment, equity derivative segment and the SLB (Security Lending and Borrowing) segment would remain shut. Trading of currency derivatives, commodity derivatives and electronic gold receipts segments would also stay paused today. In the month of April this year, there are 10 stock market holidays in total, including Saturdays and Sundays. Out of which, six have been observed as of today.

On Tuesday,  benchmarks extended their sharp fall for the third straight session as technology and state-owned lenders dragged. Headline index NSE Nifty tanked 125 points or 0.56 per cent to close at 22,148-level. And, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack settled 456 points or 0.62 per cent lower at 72,944.

Mid- and small-cap shares were mixed as Nifty Midcap 100 shed 0.09 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 climbed 0.75 per cent. India VIX, fear index, rose 1.18 per cent to 12.62-level.

Eight out of the 16 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the red. Sub-indices Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank underperformed the index by falling 2.58 per cent and 1.27 per cent, respectively. In contrast, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Oil & Gas saw gains.

Top losers on the Nifty50 platform were Infosys, LTIMindtree, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv and Wipro while gainers included Eicher Motors, HUL, ONGC, Titan and Divi's Labs.

On BSE, frontline stocks such as Infy, ICICI Bank, TCS, L&T, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank, HCLTech, Airtel, Bajaj Finserv and SBI were the major contributors to the fall. Also, Sun Pharma Advanced, KEI Industries, Mphasis, PNB, Gujarat Gas, ZF Commercial and Coforge tanked up to 5 per cent.

On the flip side, Exide Industries, Amara Raja Energy, Aegis Logistics, Sterlite Tech, SW Solar, Patanjali Foods, Hitachi Energy and Bharat Dynamics surged up to 12.27 per cent.

Out of a total of 3,933 stocks that traded on BSE during last trade, 2,177 settled with gains while 1,638 others ended lower. The remaining 118 stocks stayed unchanged.

The domestic bourses would reopen on April 18, 2024. Investors would be keenly watching quarterly earnings and management commentary from Infosys, scheduled to be released post market hours on Thursday.

Technical view

Nifty outlook

"Nifty may find short-term support within the 21,930-22,030 bands. Conversely, failure to maintain support at 21,930 could exacerbate panic in the market. On the higher end, short-term resistance is positioned at 22,400," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

Nifty Bank outlook

"If Nifty Bank sustains above the 47,500-47,400 range, it could experience a pullback towards 48,000 level. However, a break below 47,300 on a closing basis might trigger further selling pressure, potentially driving the index down towards 46,500," said Kunal Shah, Senior Technical & Derivative Analyst at LKP Securities.