Stock Market to Remain Closed Due to Maharashtra Day Celebrations

Indian Equity Markets Remain Under Pressure Amid Rising Geopolitical Tensions and Spiking Brent Crude Prices

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) will remain closed on May 1, marking Maharashtra Day. Trading in equities, equity derivatives, securities lending and borrowing (SLBs), currency derivatives, and interest rate derivatives will be suspended for the day on both exchanges. The commodity derivatives segment on the NSE and BSE will operate during the evening session, from 5:00 pm to 11:30/11:55 pm.

Trading on the NSE and BSE is expected to resume on May 4.

The Indian equity markets experienced a decline on April 30, weighed down by rising geopolitical tensions and a spike in Brent crude prices to wartime highs. At the close of trading, the Sensex fell 582.86 points, or 0.75 percent, to 76,913.50, while the Nifty dropped 180.1 points, or 0.74 percent, to 23,997.55.

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Market Performance Comparison

In the broader market, the Nifty midcap index shed 1 percent, while the smallcap index fell 0.5 percent.

The top losers on the Nifty included Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Hindalco Industries, Eternal, HUL, and Axis Bank. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Sun Pharma, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.

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Except for the IT sector, all other sectoral indices ended in the red. The Metal index declined 2%, while PSU Bank, Private Bank, Consumer Durables, and Realty indices each declined 1 percent.

The sharp surge in crude oil prices, which spiked to multi-year highs amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and concerns over supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, raised fears of inflationary pressures and macroeconomic instability for oil-importing economies like India. Weak global cues, a sharp depreciation in the rupee to record low levels, and continued foreign institutional outflows further weighed on sentiment.

The Indian rupee weakened further to a fresh record low of 95.33 per dollar on Thursday but recovered and ended marginally lower at 94.92 per dollar versus Wednesday's close of 94.85.