The Indian stock market will remain closed on Tuesday, October 20, 2026 for the Dussehra festival holiday. According to the official holiday schedule, trading will be suspended on this weekday, creating a significant disruption to the regular trading calendar. The closure affects both NSE and BSE, with regular equity trading on both exchanges not taking place during the holiday period. As per the NSE calendar, October 20 is officially designated as an equity trading holiday, with the BSE also marking this date as a market holiday. Equity trading orders would not be possible during regular trading hours, with the festival celebrated to mark the triumph of good over evil and concluding the Sharad Navratri festival.
The closure extends beyond equity markets to include all trading segments on both exchanges. On NSE, trading in capital markets, derivatives market, electronic gold receipts, and debt market will remain closed on Tuesday, October 20. Similarly, on BSE, equity, equity derivatives segment, currency derivatives segments and NDS-RST and Tri Party Repo segments, commodity derivatives and EGR segment will be shut down. This represents the second and last stock market holiday in October 2026, making it particularly significant for investors planning their trading strategies.
The October 2026 calendar shows 16 non-trading days throughout the month, with 14 of them being Saturdays and Sundays on specific weekends. The remaining two festival-linked closures include Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti on Friday, October 2 and Dussehra on Tuesday, October 20. With today being October 16, four closures remain in the month: October 17, 18, 20, and 24. Additionally, markets will remain shut for three more days in November and December, including November 10 for Diwali-Balipratipada celebration, November 24 for Prakash Gurpurb Sri Guru Nanak Dev, and December 25 for Christmas celebrations.
The Dussehra holiday comes amid strong market performance, with Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex marking 2.49% and 3.30% of weekly gains respectively. According to Dr. Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer from Master Capital Services Ltd., "Indian benchmark indices etched a second consecutive week of gains, with headline gauges Nifty and Sensex staging a steady recovery above their vital short-term moving averages with settling the week at 23,146 and 74,729, up nearly 2.78% and 3.11% respectively." The rally has been driven by spectacular performance by IT stocks amid the ongoing Q2FY27 earnings season, though bank and consumer segment stocks remained under pressure.
