Stock market holiday: BSE, NSE to remain shut today on account of Mahashivratri

Indian equity benchmarks will be closed on Friday, as per the BSE website. The domestic benchmarks would be shut today to mark Mahashivratri. The equity segment, equity derivative segment and the SLB (Security Lending and Borrowing) segment would remain closed. New debt segment – reporting, settlement and trading (NDS-RST) and tri-party repo contract would also be closed. In March 2024, there are 13 stock market holidays in total, including Saturdays and Sundays.

Domestic benchmarks settled marginally higher in the previous session after scaling their fresh record peaks in this holiday truncated week, led by gains in media, metal and consumer stocks. During intraday deals, the 30-share BSE Sensex pack touched an all-time high of 74,245 before closing 33 points or 0.05 per cent up at 74,119. The broader NSE Nifty index hit its lifetime high of 22,526. It eventually settled 20 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 22,494.

Mid and smallcap shares also finished in the green, with the Nifty Midcap 100 up 0.22 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 surging 0.85 per cent. India VIX, fear index, tanked 4.77 per cent to 13.61-level.

10 out of the 15 sectoral indices on NSE settled in the green. Sub-indices Nifty Media, Nifty Metal, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Consumer Durables outperformed the index by rising 2.54 per cent, 1.38 per cent, 0.98 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively. In contrast, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Bank and Nifty Auto saw corrections.

On BSE, index-heavyweights such as ITC, Tata Steel, TCS, L&T, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, HUL and Bajaj Finserv rose up to 1.39 per cent. Also, Tata Chemicals, IIFL Finance, Tata Teleservices, Tata Power, Graphite India, Kalpataru Projects International and Century Textiles zoomed up to 11.57 per cent.

On the flip side, NLC India, M&M, Kajaria Ceramics, Rajesh Exports, Apollo Tyres, Motherson Sumi Wiring, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Nippon Life India, Equitas Small Finance Bank and CG Power tanked up to 3.75 per cent.

Out of a total of 3,922 stocks that traded on BSE last Thursday, 2,077 settled with gains while 1,732 others ended lower. The remaining 113 stocks stayed unchanged.

The domestic bourses would reopen on March 11, 2024.

Technical view: Nifty outlook

"Nifty stayed below the psychological 22,500 mark. On the downside, support is expected at 22,400. The 'buy-on-dips' strategy is likely to persist as long as it remains above 22,400. On the higher side, a decisive move above 22,500 could trigger fresh buying interest in the market, potentially pushing the index towards 22,700 in the short term," said Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities.

Nifty Bank outlook

"Nifty Bank faced resistance at the 48,000 level, finding support at 47,750. Pivotal support will be at 47,500 and resistance at 48,200. A conclusive breach above the 48,200 threshold could catalyze a bullish upswing towards levels of Rs 48,500-48,800," De from LKP stated.