Stock, money, forex, commodity markets closed today for Maharashtra Day; trading to resume tomorrow

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange (NSE), forex and money markets are closed today on account of Maharashtra Day holiday. The markets will resume trading tomorrow, 2 May.

Financial markets in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Taiwan are closed on Wednesday for holidays.

On Tuesday (30 April), benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday ended marginally lower after a volatile session, dragged by private sector lender Yes Bank which posted a loss of Rs 1,506 crore in the March quarter on higher bad loans provisioning.

The BSE Sensex closed with 0.09 percent or 35.78 points loss at 39,031.55, while the NSE Nifty ended 0.06 percent or 6.50 points lower at 11,748.15.

Yes Bank shares crashed nearly 30 percent after the company reported a loss of Rs 1,506.64 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2019, hit by higher provisioning for bad loans.

Other major Sensex laggards were IndusInd Bank, HeroMoto Corp, Maruti Suzuki, PowerGrid and Mahindra and Mahindra – plunging as much as 5.21 percent.

Banking and auto shares mainly led the fall in the Sensex.

Investors also remained cautious ahead of the US central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) policy decision on Wednesday.

Sebi directs NSE to pay over Rs 687 cr, slaps ban on exchange officials

Sebi on Tuesday directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to disgorge profits worth over Rs 687 crore, imposed a six-month ban on launching new derivative products, barred some present and past executives from the market and initiated strict action against stock brokers.

In an unusual move, the markets watchdog passed five separate orders, together running into 400 pages, related to the co-location case, wherein some entities allegedly got preferential access in high frequency trading.

The country’s largest stock exchange has also been barred from accessing the securities market directly or indirectly for six months.

Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramakrishna – who had served as MD and CEO of the exchange – have been prohibited from “associating with a listed company or a market infrastructure institution or any other market intermediary for a period of five years”, according to a 104-page order. In another order, Narain and Ramakrishna have been directed not to hold any position in any stock exchange and clearing corporiation, among others, for three years. They have also been directed to disgorge 25 pe cent of respective salaries drawn during a certain period.