The National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) will remain completely closed on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, on account of Dussehra, giving market participants a full trading holiday in the middle of the week. Trading in the equity segment will be suspended for the day, and no transactions in equity derivatives, currency derivatives, or securities lending and borrowing (SLB) will take place.
Neither exchange will conduct pre-open or post-market sessions on the day.
Normal trading will resume on Wednesday, October 21, with the regular schedule: a pre-open session from 9 am, followed by continuous trading from 9.15 am to 3.30 pm.
The Dussehra holiday is part of the official trading holiday calendar for 2026 announced by the exchanges. It is the second exchange holiday this month, after markets remained shut on October 2 for Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. In all, the NSE has scheduled 16 trading holidays for 2026, of which twelve have already passed. After the Dussehra break, trading will be suspended on three more occasions over the remaining two months of the year.
The next scheduled market holiday falls on Tuesday, November 10, for Diwali-Balipratipada. This will be followed by another holiday on Tuesday, November 24, on account of Prakash Gurpurb Sri Guru Nanak Dev, and the final market holiday of 2026 on Friday, December 25, for Christmas. The Christmas holiday falls on a Friday, giving market participants a long weekend to close the year.
Investors should note that four scheduled holidays in 2026 fell on weekends and therefore did not lead to additional market closures. These included Mahashivratri on February 15 and Eid-Ul-Fitr on March 21, both of which have already passed, along with Independence Day on August 15, which fell on a Saturday, and Diwali Laxmi Pujan on November 8, which falls on a Sunday this year.
Although Laxmi Pujan will not be a holiday, the exchanges will conduct the customary Muhurat Trading session on November 8, the special auspicious session that marks the start of the new Samvat year for the trading community. The timings for the session will be announced closer to the date.
Commodity markets will follow a different schedule. The Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) will remain closed during the morning session on October 20, from 9 am to 5 pm, but trading is scheduled to resume in the evening session, from 5 pm to 11.30 pm or 11.55 pm depending on the contract. The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange Limited will remain shut for both trading sessions on the same day.
Market participants who trade beyond listed equities should check the schedule for the relevant segment before placing orders, as settlement and trading timelines across segments can differ on exchange holidays.
The holiday comes immediately after a bruising session for Dalal Street on Monday. Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on October 19, ahead of the Dussehra break, as weak private bank stocks, disappointing corporate earnings and rising crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.
Analysts noted that the pre-holiday fall also reflected caution ahead of further quarterly results due later in the week, leaving traders with plenty to digest when the market reopens on Wednesday.
The BSE Sensex closed at 73,852.90, falling 876.37 points, or 1.17 per cent. The NSE Nifty 50 settled at 22,888.95, down 257.20 points, or 1.11 per cent. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 467.93 lakh crore as selling pressure swept across sectors.
Only a handful of Sensex constituents ended in the green. SBI, Adani Ports, L&T, IndiGo and Maruti were the sole gainers, rising up to 1.12 per cent. On the losing side, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Trent, NTPC, HDFC Bank, HUL, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel were the top losers, falling up to 3.85 per cent.
Selling was broad-based, with almost all sectoral indices on the NSE ending in the red. The Nifty PSU Bank index was the only major sectoral index to close in positive territory, gaining 2.41 per cent.
The sell-off was driven by a combination of factors. Private banking stocks remained under pressure following quarterly results that disappointed investors, while concerns over elevated crude oil prices added to worries about input costs and inflation. With the Dussehra holiday offering a natural pause, traders will return on Wednesday to reassess positions against a backdrop of ongoing quarterly earnings and global cues.
For retail investors, an exchange holiday means no buying or selling through the regular market session, and any orders that depend on the regular session will have to wait until trading resumes. Investors and traders are advised to account for the closure while planning trades, managing open positions and tracking corporate announcements, since company disclosures can continue to arrive even when the market is shut.
Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is one of India's major festivals and symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Its inclusion in the market holiday calendar reflects the deep connection between the festival and the trading community, which traditionally treats the festive season as an auspicious period for financial activity, culminating in the Muhurat Trading session during Diwali.
With only three holidays remaining in the year after Dussehra, the calendar now moves toward the Diwali season, historically one of the most active periods for Indian markets. The Muhurat Trading session on November 8 will be the market's traditional ceremonial welcome to the new Samvat year.
Conducted as a special one-hour evening session on Diwali, it is regarded as an auspicious occasion to begin the new financial year, and participation is usually broad, with many investors placing token buy orders as a symbolic start to the year. The exchanges will confirm the exact timings closer to the date, after which market participants can plan their festive-season trading around both the special session and the Diwali-Balipratipada holiday two days later.
Market participants will watch whether the festive period brings renewed buying interest after Monday's sharp correction, or whether global headwinds continue to keep sentiment cautious.
(Reporting based on Business Today, The Economic Times and The Times of India.)