The Indian stock exchanges, NSE and the BSE, will remain closed on Friday on account of Republic Day 2024.
The trading in equities, equity derivatives, currency derivatives, and interest rate derivatives will be suspended. Also, the securities lending and borrowing, along with wholesale commodity markets, including metals and bullions, will also be closed.
Further, the markets will remain closed for the next two days on account of weekend holidays resuming operations on Monday, January 29.
On Thursday, selling pressure in IT stocks and persistent foreign fund outflows led to a decline in benchmark stock indices.
The indices hit intraday lows of 70,319 and 21,247, respectively. In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index reversed gains and ended 0.36% lower. The BSE SmallCap index, on the other hand, outshone peers with 0.54% gains led by RITES, Oswal Greentech, Steel Exchange India, and RailTel.
Rupee ends at 83.11 per Dollar against Wednesday’s close of 83.13 per Dollar.
The Nifty IT index was the worst hit dragged by a 4% fall in Tech Mahindra shares after it posted a weak set of Q3 financials.
Bank Nifty, too, slipped in the red to 44,892 amid weakness in private sector lenders like Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
The BSE Sensex dropped 359.64 points or 0.51% to close at 70,700.67. It experienced an intraday plunge of 741.27 points to 70,319.04. The Nifty fell by 101.35 points or 0.47% to 21,352.60.