New Delhi, 20 October (H.S.): Domestic stock markets are closed on Monday on account of Vijayadashami. Trading will remain suspended throughout the day on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). As a result of the holiday, the stock market will operate for only four days this week. Normal trading is scheduled to resume on Wednesday.
The Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) is also observing a holiday for Vijayadashami, although the closure applies only to its morning session. The exchange will reopen for the evening trading session at 5 pm. The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), meanwhile, will remain closed for the entire day.
According to information provided by the stock exchanges, the Vijayadashami holiday applies to several segments of the BSE, including equities, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, the New Debt Segment—Reporting, Settlement and Trading Platform (NDS-RST), and tri-party repo transactions. However, trading in the commodity derivatives and electronic gold receipts segments will be available during the evening session, from 5 pm until 11:30 pm and 11:55 pm, respectively.
Similarly, the NSE will remain closed across all segments, including equities, equity derivatives, corporate bonds, the New Debt Segment, the Negotiated Trade Reporting Platform, mutual funds, securities lending and borrowing schemes, currency derivatives, commodity derivatives and interest rate derivatives.
According to the stock market holiday calendar, Vijayadashami is the second market holiday in October. The exchanges were previously closed on October 2 for Gandhi Jayanti. The next scheduled stock market holiday will fall on November 10 for Bali Pratipada, followed by a holiday on November 24 to mark the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev. In December, the markets will remain closed on December 25 for Christmas.
Diwali will be celebrated on Sunday, November 8, this year. Since the festival falls on a Sunday, it has not been listed as a regular trading holiday in the stock market calendar. However, the exchanges will conduct the traditional Muhurat Trading session despite the weekend holiday.
As in the previous year, the special Muhurat Trading session has been scheduled for the afternoon. According to the NSE timetable, trading will begin at 2:20 pm on Diwali.
---------------
Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
