The stock market investors will usher in the new year on a leisurely note with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) declaring holiday on January 1, but the overall number of non-trading days will be just 11 next year for the bourses.
With many of the holidays falling on either on Saturdays or Sundays, the Dalal Street would be shut for just 11 days next year, against 19 in 2009.
"Whether January 1 would be a holiday for the BSE depends on the total number of holidays that the exchange has during the year. This is not the first time that the exchange is giving January 1 as a holiday. Since most holidays in 2010 will be on Saturdays and Sundays, BSE has preferred to give January 1 as a trading holiday," a BSE spokesperson said.
As many as seven holidays, including the Independence Day, the Dussehra, Guru Nanak Jayanti and Christmas, fall either on a Saturday or Sunday in 2010.