Indian Markets Closed For Holiday

Indian financial markets remain closed today on account of Holi festival.

Commodity exchanges, however, will be open for second half of the day and will be closed during the first half.

India’s tally of Covid-19 went up by 68,204 crossing the 12 million-mark on Sunday. This is the highest daily spike since October 10 last year.

The seven-day average of new cases in India stood at 56,201, the highest since October 21 due to the rapid increase in the number of new cases in worst-affected Maharashtra and seven other states and union territories.

Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to maintain status quo when it announces its first bi-monthly monetary policy of 2021-22 fiscal on April 7.

Asian stocks remain broadly higher in cautious trade this morning as investors await cues from U.S. President Biden’s infrastructure spending plan expected to be unveiled on Wednesday and the payrolls report due on Friday

The dollar began the week on a firm note while oil and gold prices fell in Asian trade.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday as investors factored in improved growth, helped by more stimulus and vaccination efforts.

In economic news, reports on personal income, spending and consumer sentiment painted a mixed picture of the world’s largest economy.

The Dow climbed 1.4 percent and the S&P 500 added 1.7 percent to reach new record closing highs while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.2 percent.

European markets advanced on Friday despite the European Commission’s warning that the European Union is at the start of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.9 percent. The German DAX gained 0.9 percent, France’s CAC 40 index inched up 0.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 rallied 1 percent.