Stock market holiday today: BSE, NSE pause for Mahashivratri after volatile session leaves Nifty in red yet again

Markets hit the pause button today as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) remain closed for Mahashivratri.

All segments, including equities, derivatives, currency trading, and interest rate derivatives, are shut for the day. Commodity trading, too, will stay suspended in the morning session but will resume in the evening between 5:00 pm and 11:55 pm.

Regular trading will restart on February 27.

The closure comes on the heels of a choppy session that saw benchmark indices struggling to hold gains. After early highs, the markets faced a late sell-off, leaving Nifty down by six points at 22,547.55. The Sensex, however, managed to inch up 147.71 points to close at 74,602.12.

The downturn marked Nifty’s sixth consecutive loss, reflecting broader market uncertainty. Sectoral trends remained mixed—IT, metal, oil & gas, and PSU banks shed 0.5-1 percent, while auto, FMCG, telecom, and consumer durables saw modest gains of 0.5 percent.

Among individual stocks, M&M, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, and Nestle posted gains, while Hindalco, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, and Trent ended in the red.

“The index remained mostly muted, except for a small correction towards the close. Sentiment continues to favor the bears as the index sustained below the 21EMA on the hourly chart throughout the day, indicating selling on every rise,” said LKP Securities in a note. Support is placed at 22,500, with resistance around 22,650 and 22,750-22,800, warning that any uptick may invite further selling pressure, it added.

The Indian rupee took a sharp hit, falling 50 paise to close at 87.20 per dollar. “The Indian rupee saw a sharp decline against the US dollar on Tuesday, marking its biggest intraday drop in the past three weeks. However, despite a slight recovery, the rupee remained weak below the 87.20 level,” said Rahul Kalantri, VP-Commodities at Mehta Equities.

He attributed the fall to US President Trump’s latest tariff remarks and foreign portfolio investor (FPI) sell-offs in domestic equities. “We expect the rupee to remain volatile, trading between 86.65 and 87.70 this week,” he added.