Wed Oct 02 09:56:46 UTC 2024: ## Indian Stock Markets Closed on Wednesday for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti

**Mumbai, October 2, 2024:** Indian equity markets will remain closed on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, to observe Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, as per the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) website. This closure will affect the equity segment, equity derivatives, security lending and borrowing (SLB), and currency derivatives segments. Commodity derivatives and electronic gold receipts (EGR) will be closed during both morning and evening trading sessions.

**Markets End Lower on Tuesday**

Before the holiday closure, Indian benchmarks ended Tuesday’s session lower, primarily driven by weakness in energy shares. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 33 points (0.04%) to close at 84,266, while the broader NSE Nifty index edged down 14 points (0.05%) to 25,797.

**Mid- and Small-Cap Gains**

Despite the overall decline, mid- and small-cap shares performed better, with Nifty Midcap 100 rising 0.34% and Nifty Smallcap 100 gaining 0.79%. The India VIX, a measure of market volatility, fell 6.25% to 11.99.

**Sectoral Performance**

Eight out of the 16 sectoral indices on the NSE closed in the red, with Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Financial Services, and Nifty Bank underperforming the index. Conversely, Nifty IT and Nifty Media saw gains of 1.17% and 1.60% respectively.

**Key Stocks**

Among major stocks on BSE, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Bharti Airtel, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, ITC, Titan, and Tata Motors contributed to the decline. Several BSE 500 stocks, including The Phoenix Mills Ltd, Westlife Foodworld, Sobha, Intellect Design Arena, Muthoot Finance, Godrej Industries, Welspun Corp, and TVS Holdings, fell up to 5.41%.

**Gainers**

On the positive side, stocks like Caplin Point Laboratories, BASF India, PB Fintech, Welspun Living, Star Cement, National Aluminium, Paytm, Five-Star Business Finance, Olectra Greentech, Blue Dart, and Polycab India gained up to 9.63%.

**Trading Volume**

Out of 4,054 stocks traded on the BSE during the last session, 2,240 closed with gains, while 1,743 ended lower. The remaining 71 stocks remained unchanged.

**Market Outlook**

Analysts are cautiously optimistic about the market’s direction. Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, noted that Nifty formed a doji pattern with a long upper shadow on daily charts, indicating market indecision. He suggested that 25,800 could act as a strong resistance level, while immediate support lies at 25,750. Hrishikesh Yedve, AVP of Technical and Derivatives Research at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates, pointed out that Nifty Bank formed a bearish candle, suggesting further weakness. He added that any bounce towards 53,300-53,350 should be used as an opportunity for profit booking.

The domestic bourses will reopen on Thursday, October 3, 2024.

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