According to the BSE website, Indian equities benchmarks, such as the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), will be closed on Wednesday, December 25, in observance of Christmas. With the exception of weekends, this is the last planned trading holiday for the year. The website further stated that the closure is applicable to the segments of currency derivatives, stock, equity derivatives, and Security Lending and Borrowing (SLB). Additionally, commodity markets will not open in the morning or evening.
On Thursday, December 26, trade will restart as usual. In 2025, there will be 14 trade holidays observed by the bourses over the year.
Performance of the market on Christmas Eve
Losses in metals, IT, PSU banks, and financial companies caused Indian equities markets to close slightly down earlier on Tuesday, December 24. The NSE Nifty fell 26 points (0.11 percent) to close at 23,728 while the BSE Sensex fell 67 points (0.09 percent) to conclude at 78,473.
Broader market indices displayed conflicting patterns, with the Nifty Smallcap 100 rising 0.24 percent and the Nifty Midcap 100 falling 0.06 percent. A gauge of market volatility, the India VIX, dropped 2.53% to 13.18.
Ten of the 18 sectoral indices that the NSE tracks ended the day down. With declines of 0.83 percent, 0.36 percent, 0.56 percent, and 0.20 percent, respectively, Nifty Metal, Nifty IT, Nifty PSU Bank, and Nifty Financial Services were the prominent laggards. Nifty FMCG and Nifty Auto, on the other hand, reported increases.
With losses of up to 1.62 percent, Infosys, State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, Titan, and Bajaj Finance were among the top decliners among individual equities. Furthermore, there was a 4.91 percent decline in stocks of Intellect Design Arena Ltd., KIOCL, KEC International, Go Digit General Insurance, and Torrent Pharma.
However, with increases as high as 9.88 percent, notable winners included Finolex Cables, Gillette, Emami, RBL Bank, Amber Enterprises, Solar Industries, Biocon, MRPL, Kfin Tech, and Tata Investment.
In total, 2,060 of the 4,092 equities that were traded on the BSE ended the day lower, 1,936 higher, and 96 unchanged. In the meantime, the Indian rupee continued to weaken, closing 9 paise weaker than it had at the previous close of 85.11 against the US dollar at a record low of 85.20.