Markets close for ‘Bharat Bandh’

The bandh has eroded revenue for the government and volume of the traders,he said.

With the closure of wholesale commodity markets,the trading volumes declined to a certain extent in futures trade,which remained opened for regular trading.

All the wholesale trading centres in metros remained closed,as traders refrained from doing business and kept their shutters down throughout the day.

The impact was felt on futures commodity and stock exchanges with registering a significant fall in their turnovers as closure of physical markets left speculators direction less.

However,the bandh evoked a lukewarm response in Chennai,Tamil Nadu,with some of wholesale markets such as bullion and oils and oilseeds,witnessed normal functioning. In lacklustre trading,the gold prices eased by Rs 10 to Rs 18,580 per ten gram,while silver lost Rs 50 to Rs 29,385 per kg.

The IT hub in Bangalore was practically shut down with most software firms remaining closed.

Business establishments in Mumbai,a financial hub of the country and Kolkata were closed. In Delhi,all commodity and bullion markets joined the bandh amid reports of some disruptions in the traffic.

In equity markets,the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange indices closed almost flat with minor losses.

The BSE Sensex closed lower by 19.51 points,or 0.11 per cent to 17,441.44 and Nifty finished 1.20 points,or 0.02 per cent lower at 5,235.90.