Is the Indian Stock Market Opened Today? Traders Guide

Trading in the Indian stock market is closed on Monday due to the celebration of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti across India. However, global markets are opening and trading higher after a bill was passed by Congress that averted a US government shutdown. Last week, Sensex and Nifty declined for the second week in a row with IT and media stocks seeing the most selling, on the other hand, realty and pharma stocks outperformed.

As per BSE notification, trading in equity, equity derivatives, and SLB segment will be closed in India on October 2nd. Trading in the currency derivatives is also closed.

Ahead of the new financial year cycle from October 2023 to September 2024, in a last-minute frenzy on Saturday (September 30th), the US Senate passed a cleared stopgap bill with an overwhelming 88-9 votes. Democratic enthusiastically cleared the bill just hours before midnight of Saturday, a move that came after Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy backed away from his party's partisan bill. Overall, the house witnessed 335-91 votes for funding the government through November 17, with Democrats giving more support than Republicans.

Investors cheered the averting of the US non-essential federal government shutdown, also amidst a decline in treasury yields. Asian shares traded bullish with Japan's Nikkei 225 gaining over 1.5%. However, the majority of markets such as China, South Korea along India closed on Monday due to the holiday.

Wall Street will react to the US bills on Monday. Last week, on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped by 158.84 points to end at 33,507.50, while the S&P 500 index dipped 0.3% to settle at 4,288.05. However, the tech-heavy index Nasdaq Composite was marginally up to finish at 13,219.32.

Coming to India, Sensex ended the trading week from September 25th to 29th by declining 214.32 points or 0.32%, while Nifty 50 slipped marginally by 16.60 points or 0.08%. Nevertheless, it would be the second consecutive weekly drop for Indian benchmarks.

Talking about the weekly performance, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "Amidst mounting concerns stemming from escalating crude oil prices and inflationary pressures, which were compounded by fears of another rate hike by the Fed, the domestic market grappled with volatility throughout the week. The increase in US bond yields and volatility in the INR further diminished the attractiveness of domestic indices for foreign investors. Further, due to low liquidity and a lack of catalysts to stimulate buying, the market is encountering strong resistance at higher levels. Throughout the week, IT stocks underperformed due to adverse global cues, while the pharma sector witnessed strong buying interest as investors adopted a defensive strategy in response to global uncertainties. Yet the market concluded the week on a positive note, boosted by healthy momentum in industrial growth, up by 12% YoY."

On Friday, last week, markets performed positively with Sensex ending at 65,828.41, up by 320.09 points or 0.49%. Nifty 50 gained by 114.75 points or 0.59% to close at 19,638.30. It was this day's performance that minimised the impact of bears for the week.

Going ahead, Nair added, "Volatility is expected to remain elevated in the short term, given the upside risk of domestic inflation on account of higher crude prices. Investors will closely monitor upcoming releases of domestic, US, and Chinese PMI data, among other indicators, as they are expected to shape future market trends."

Indian markets will resume trading on October 3rd.