Markets pause as Gandhi Jayanti leads to a full day shutdown

Friday, 2 October, was a non‑trading day for India’s two major stock exchanges as they observed Gandhi Jayanti. The NSE and BSE stopped all operations across cash equities, equity and interest‑rate derivatives, securities lending‑borrowing, and currency futures. Commodity derivative markets were also closed for the entire day.

The holiday calendar reveals further market shutdowns: 20 October for Dussehra, 10 November for Diwali‑Balipratipada, 24 November for Guru Gurpurab and 25 December for Christmas. Normal trading will resume on 5 October after the weekend.

The session prior to the holiday saw the Nifty 50 fall 198.50 points, or 0.88%, closing at 22,421.95. The sharpest drops were recorded in Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Shriram Finance, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries, Aiair Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra. Conversely, Infosys, HDFC Life, HDFC Bank, SBI Life, Max Health and TCS posted notable advances. Analysts point to high global bond yields, stubbornly high crude prices and a cautious domestic outlook ahead of Q2 earnings and the RBI’s upcoming rate review.