Is the stock market closed for Amedkar Jayanti on Friday?

Equity markets are closed on April 14 on account of Ambedkar Jayanti, according to the market holiday calendar of BSE. All the segments, including the equity, derivative, and SLB segments will be closed on Friday.

The Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) will also be closed for the first session on Friday and trading will resume in the evening session at 5 pm.

In April, trading days were reduced to just 17 due to multiple market holidays. In the entire calendar year, the markets have 15 annual holidays in 2023 — two more than last year. In May, markets will be closed on May 1 to observe Maharashtra Day.

After a winning run for eight straight days, equity markets ended flat on Thursday as investors stayed cautious ahead of a three-day holiday. The sentiment was negative on IT stocks after TCS Q4 numbers disappointed the Street and so was Infosys.

"Mediocre Q4 results and uninspiring commentary from TCS will keep the IT stocks soft. Financials will continue to be resilient. Watch out for the pharma stocks, which have emerged strong in recent days," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Analysts say news on the inflation front - both from the US and India - are positive for markets. India's retail inflation dropped to 15-month low of 5.66%, while US consumer prices number has come lower-than- expected at 5% year-on-year.

"So, the MPC continuing with the present rates in the next policy meeting is a clear possibility. This is positive for equity markets," V K Vijayakumar said.

The rally for the last eight days was mainly driven by sustained FPI buying and expectations of strong fourth quarter results. FPIs were net buyers for nine straight days and invested about Rs 10,000 crore in this period.