As India heads into the final stretch of 2025, many investors are checking the same two dates: Christmas (December 25, 2025) and New Year’s Day (January 1, 2026). The short takeaway is simple:
- Christmas 2025: India’s main stock exchanges NSE and BSE are closed. 1
- New Year’s Day 2026: NSE and BSE equity markets are scheduled to remain open (it is not listed as a trading holiday on their 2026 calendars). 2
Where it gets more nuanced: commodity trading can follow different session rules, and on January 1, 2026, both MCX and NCDEX show the morning session open but the evening session closed. 3
Below is a detailed, investor-friendly guide to what’s shut, what’s open, and what’s been in the news as exchanges roll out their latest calendars.
At a glance: Christmas 2025 vs New Year 2026 trading status in India
Thursday, December 25, 2025 — Christmas
- NSE (Equity/Cash market): Closed 1
- BSE (Equity markets): Closed 4
- Commodity markets: NCDEX is closed (morning and evening sessions) for Christmas. 5
Trading resumes: Friday, December 26, 2025 (normal trading day unless a separate exchange circular says otherwise). 1
Thursday, January 1, 2026 — New Year’s Day
- NSE & BSE (Equity markets): Open (New Year’s Day does not appear on the 2026 trading-holiday lists released by the exchanges; the first listed holiday is later in January). 2
- MCX (commodities): Morning session open; evening session closed 3
- NCDEX (commodities): Morning session open; evening session closed 6
Christmas 2025: NSE and BSE are shut on December 25
Official NSE circulars for 2025 list Thursday, December 25, 2025 (Christmas) as a trading holiday. 1
That means no trading activity on the NSE cash market for the day, and market participants typically see closures across the broader exchange ecosystem on declared trading holidays (including major trading segments). 1
A practical point for traders: December 2025 has only one weekday market closure—Christmas—while the rest of the “off days” are weekends, which several finance outlets have been flagging in holiday rundowns. 7
What about commodities on Christmas 2025?
For commodity traders, NCDEX’s 2025 holiday circular explicitly shows Christmas (Dec 25, 2025) closed in both morning and evening sessions. 5
New Year’s Day 2026: Equity markets are open, but commodity sessions are split
NSE & BSE: January 1, 2026 is not a listed trading holiday
In the last few days, India’s market calendar news has focused on holiday lists for 2026 being published. NSE’s official 2026 circular lists 15 trading holidays—starting with Republic Day on January 26, 2026—and does not include January 1. 2
BSE’s 2026 notice for equity and equity derivatives similarly starts with January 26, 2026, which supports the same conclusion: New Year’s Day is not scheduled as an equity market holiday. 8
MCX: January 1, 2026 is a partial trading holiday (evening shut)
MCX’s official circular for 2026 spells it out clearly:
- New Year Day (Jan 1, 2026): Morning session “Open”; Evening session “Closed.” 3
MCX also restates typical commodity session windows in its holiday documentation (with the circular providing the definitive schedule for holiday treatment). 3
NCDEX: January 1, 2026 is also “Open/Closed” by session
NCDEX’s 2026 circular mirrors the split-session approach for New Year’s Day:
- 01-Jan-26 (New Year Day): Morning “Open”; Evening “Closed.” 6
What’s been in the news lately about the holiday calendar
Because year-end planning is when many traders look for “surprise closures,” the past week has seen multiple reports highlighting the newly released 2026 schedules:
- NSE’s 2026 holiday calendar has been widely covered, with reports noting 15 full trading holidays and calling out multiple long-weekend combinations—useful for planning positions and rollovers. 9
- Separately, MCX (Dec 15, 2025) and NCDEX (Dec 16, 2025) issued their 2026 holiday circulars, including the New Year’s Day session split that commodity traders need to watch. 3
For December 2025 specifically, several market updates have emphasized that Christmas Day is the only mid-week market closure, with the remainder of the month’s “market-off” days largely coming from Saturdays and Sundays. 7
Market timings reminder: what “open” typically means for NSE trading days
On a normal NSE trading day, timings vary by segment. The NSE’s own market timings page details session windows for key segments such as equity derivatives (normal market), currency derivatives, and commodity derivatives. 10
This matters for New Year’s Day 2026: even though it’s a calendar holiday in many places, it’s still a scheduled trading day for NSE/BSE equities, so standard market timings apply (unless an exchange issues a special circular). 2
Why the Christmas–New Year window matters for investors
Even one closure can change how you plan:
- Execution: Orders placed during a trading holiday won’t execute until the next trading session.
- Settlement and payouts: Weekends + holidays can create a longer gap before funds and securities reflect in accounts.
- Derivatives: If a contract’s key date (like expiry-related activity) collides with a holiday, exchanges typically provide advance schedules or adjustments via circulars—worth checking if you hold positions into year-end. 2
