The Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) has announced new trading hours starting March 10, 2025, due to the change in U.S. daylight saving time. This change follows a guideline from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Here’s the new trading schedule:
– Non-Agri Commodities: 9:00 AM – 11:30 PM (You can change client codes until 11:45 PM)
– Select Agri Commodities (like Cotton, Cotton Oil, and Kapas): 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM (Changes allowed until 9:15 PM)
– All Other Agri Commodities: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Changes allowed until 5:15 PM)
In a separate update, Indian stock markets fell on Friday. This happened after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered interest rates for the first time in almost five years to stimulate economic growth.
The BSE Sensex dropped by 197.97 points, or 0.25%, closing at 77,860.19. The Nifty 50 index also fell by 43.40 points, or 0.18%, settling at 23,559.95.
The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), now led by Sanjay Malhotra, lowered the repo rate by 0.25% to 6.25%. This is the first rate cut since May 2020. The committee had kept the rate steady at 6.5% during its last eleven meetings.
In its last meeting in December, the MPC decided to reduce the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 0.50%, making it 4%. This aims to provide more money for banks to lend.
For the financial year 2024-25, the RBI estimates India’s growth rate to be 7.2%, while the Economic Survey predicts it will be 6.4%. Looking ahead, the RBI has raised its growth forecast for fiscal year 2026 to 6.7% and predicts an inflation rate of 4.2%.
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