It’s not your average weekend when everything slows down and businesses shut down on Sunday. For the second time in history India’s Budget will be held on a Sunday.
But it is not just the Parliament. For the first-time ever, the commodity exchanges are going to trade on a Sunday.
MCX set to break 23-year tradition
The presentation of the Union Budget 2026 would mark the very first time that MCX would be open on a Sunday since its inception in 2003. Prior to this, MCX has never conducted trading sessions on a Sunday.
The Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and the agricultural exchange, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX)—which are usually closed on weekends, will remain open on Sunday.
Is MCX and NCDEX trading on Budget day?
MCX, in a regulatory filing, announced that a special live trading session will be held on Sunday to mark the presentation of the Budget. The special session will last for nineteen minutes and will run from 08:45 am to 08:59 am (IST).
After that, the trading session will be conducted on MCX from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm (IST). Also, the client code modification session would run from 9:00 am to 5:15 pm (IST), the exchange said in its press release.
On NCDEX, the live trading session for all commodities shall commence at 10:00 am and conclude at 5:00 pm (IST). The pre-open session will begin from 09:45 am, and the client modifications session will be allowed from 10:00 am to 5:15 pm (IST).
Is NSE, BSE trading on Budget Day?
The stock exchanges- NSE, BSE will also stay open.
However, this is not the first time that markets are open on a weekend. Even last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget on February 1, 2025, which was a Saturday. Despite it being a weekend, the stock exchanges and the commodity markets were operating as per their usual timings.
Stock exchanges have opened on weekends for special occasions earlier as well. The NSE and BSE were open on a Sunday for the presentation of the Union Budget 1999–2000 on February 28, 1999, presented by former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha.
Why are the markets open?
During the presentation of the Budget, big announcements are made by the Finance Minister relating to various sectors of the economy, like precious metals, real estate, renewable energy, etc. With markets being open, traders would be able to digest the implications of these announcements in real time.
Settlement holiday on February 1
Even though markets will have a trading session on February 1, it will still be a settlement holiday. Investors and traders would not be able to settle the proceeds from transactions made on January 30, 2026; the settlement would take place on February 2, 2026.
Similarly, stocks purchased on January 30 would not be available for sale on Sunday, and withdrawal requests would also be processed on February 2, 2026.