The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and the BSE will remain closed on March 29 on account of Holi.
Wholesale commodity markets, including metal and bullion, will also remain shut. And there will be no trading activity in the forex and commodity futures markets either.
On March 26, the BSE Sensex gained 568.38 points, or 1.17 percent, to close at 49,008.50 and the Nifty ending 182.40 points, or 1.27 percent, higher at 14,507.30.
“Equity market has been consolidating under fear of losing its traction of economic growth recovery. Positive US job data and climb in fourth-quarter US GDP to 4.3% helped to reduce the gravity of the contraction,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
“On the domestic front, high-frequency data suggests good economic activity in Q4FY21 and results will be announced from April. The second wave of Covid and high valuation will maintain volatility in the near term,” he added.
All the sectoral indices ended in the green, with the Nifty metal index rising 3.6 percent. BSE midcap and smallcap indices gained over a percent each.
Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Hindalco Industries and Tata Motors were among the major gainers on the Nifty, while the losers included UPL, Eicher Motors, Power Grid Corp, IndusInd Bank and ITC.
“On one hand the number of Covid cases are going up on the other hand the pace of vaccination is also accelerating. With fresh restrictions and faster vaccination, we can expect sentiment to remain positive at the start of the new fiscal year,” said Rusmik Oza, Executive Vice President, Head of Fundamental Research at Kotak Securities.
“The earnings season will also kick in from the second week of April which could turn out to be the driver for stocks,” Oza feels.
He expect markets to remain volatile as the Nifty-50 has closed below the 50 DMA last week which works to 14,765 levels.
In the last week, the Indian rupee ended flat at 72.51 per dollar on March 26, against its March 19 closing of 72.51 per dollar.
“Next week is a truncated week with currency holidays, so we can expect market participation to be muted. At this point fx market is trying to get some more global news that will be the next catalyst. So, unless any nation stops the vaccine rollout, the rapid vaccination drive by the US will keep the risk appetite higher,” said Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.
“However, lockdown in Europe and upbeat US data will limit any fall in USDINR spot. Thus we expect the spot to trade within 72.20-72.80,” he added.
