NSE & BSE to remain closed for Muharram festival

|MC|

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and BSE will remain closed on August 9 for Muharram.

Wholesale commodity markets, including metal and bullion, will also remain shut. There will be no trading activity in forex and commodity futures markets either.

On August 8, the Indian equity benchmarks closed near a four-month high on buying by foreign investors, falling crude oil prices and gains in auto as well as metal stocks.

The Sensex was up 465.14 points, or 0.80 percent, at 58,853.07, and the Nifty was up 127.60 points, or 0.73 percent, at 17,525.10. "Markets started the week on a buoyant note and gained over half a percent. After the flat start, healthy buying in key sectors like banking, IT and auto aided a steady rise in the benchmark. Consequently, the Nifty ended around the day’s high to close at 17,525 levels. The broader indices also closed with modest gains," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking.

"The Nifty has decisively surpassed the hurdle at 17,400, and we’re now eyeing 17,800. Apart from the performance of world markets, the last leg of the earnings season, coupled with key domestic data like IIP, CPI and WPI, would remain on the participants’ radar for cues. We reiterate our preference for top-performing sectors like banking, financials, auto, FMCG and selectively from the IT pack for fresh longs," he said.

M&M, Coal India, Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco Industries and HDFC Bank were among the major Nifty gainers. The losers included BPCL, SBI, UltraTech Cement, Britannia Industries and Nestle India.

Among sectors, Nifty auto, energy and metal indices rose 1 percent each, while the Nifty Bank rose 0.8 percent.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended marginally higher.

"Global as well as Domestic indices were positive after the US reported better-than-expected jobs data over the weekend. Nifty opened higher and gained strength during the day to finally close near day’s high at 17,525 levels. Broader market too ended in green with gains of 0.4 percent. Baring PSU bank and IT all other sectors ended in green. Metals and Private Banks were top gainers - up more than 1 percent each," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"After consolidating last week nifty finally managed to cross and close above 17,500 levels. This indicates the inherent strength in the domestic market, despite mixed global cues and increasing geopolitical tensions."

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