The question
Market folklore has a weekday for everything: the Monday dip, the Friday rally. We tested it on the Nifty 50's daily closes. For every session from January 1999 to 16 October 2026 we computed the close-to-close change and grouped them by weekday. Special Saturday and Sunday sessions (budget days and Muhurat trading) are left out, which leaves 6,852 weekday sessions. Returns are for the price index, without dividends.
Since 1999
| Weekday | Sessions | Average change | Median change | Share of up days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 1,371 | −0.001% | +0.108% | 54.6% |
| Tuesday | 1,375 | +0.055% | +0.059% | 53.3% |
| Wednesday | 1,378 | +0.150% | +0.116% | 55.0% |
| Thursday | 1,376 | +0.022% | +0.067% | 52.8% |
| Friday | 1,352 | +0.056% | +0.064% | 52.5% |
Wednesday has the highest average and the highest share of up days. But the average is small: 0.15% a session. All five days are positive about 52% to 55% of the time, and the median changes sit within 0.06 points of one another.
The last ten years
| Weekday | Sessions | Average change | Median change | Share of up days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 490 | −0.039% | +0.131% | 57.3% |
| Tuesday | 496 | +0.133% | +0.060% | 54.6% |
| Wednesday | 497 | +0.082% | +0.039% | 52.9% |
| Thursday | 497 | +0.010% | +0.047% | 52.3% |
| Friday | 487 | +0.041% | +0.051% | 51.7% |
The picture reshuffles. Tuesday now has the best average and Monday the worst, yet Monday has the highest share of up days (57.3%) and the highest median (+0.131%). That combination, up more often than any other day but lowest on average, means Mondays are usually positive, with a few very large drops. The worst session in the ten years was a Monday, −13.0% on 23 March 2020; taking that one day out lifts the Monday average only to −0.013%, still the lowest.
Does the best weekday repeat?
For each calendar year from 2017 to 2026 (the last still running) we ranked the five weekdays by their average change that year.
| Weekday | Years as best | Years as worst |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 3 | 1 |
| Tuesday | 3 | 2 |
| Wednesday | 2 | 0 |
| Thursday | 0 | 5 |
| Friday | 2 | 2 |
No weekday won more than three of ten years. Thursday finished last in half the years and first in none, the only pattern that stands out, and ten yearly samples are too few to call it a rule. Tuesday and Monday each took the top spot three times.
What this means for investors
The differences are small compared with the swings. The Nifty 50's typical daily move is around 1%, while the gap between the best and worst weekday average is about 0.1 to 0.15 points. A single day's noise swamps it.
Averages hide the shape. Mondays are the clearest case: a high share of up days and a low average at once. Looking only at one number would tell opposite stories.
It does not give you a timing rule. A weekday that led over 27 years did not lead over the last ten, and the leader changed from year to year. Anyone placing trades by weekday would have been following something that kept moving.
For a SIP, the date matters little. Our SIP-date study looks at the same question for the day of the month. The calendar month version of this question shows how uneven months are, and the FII and DII day-of-week post does the same for flows.
This is a description of past sessions, not a forecast and not a recommendation to buy or sell.
Source: Nifty 50 daily closing prices, 1 January 1999 to 16 October 2026, as held on WealthTicker; weekday sessions only, price index, close-to-close changes.
Frequently asked questions
Which weekday has the best average Nifty 50 return?
Wednesday since 1999, at +0.15% a session over 1,378 sessions. In the last ten years it was Tuesday, at +0.13% over 496 sessions. The two answers differ, which is part of the point.
Is Monday a weak day for the Nifty 50?
Its average is the lowest in both periods (0.00% since 1999, −0.04% in the last ten years), but Mondays also have the highest share of up days in the last ten years (57.3%) and the best median. The average is pulled down by a few very large falls, led by −13.0% on 23 March 2020.
Can I use a weekday to time a SIP or a purchase?
The data do not support it. The best weekday by average return in a year was Monday or Tuesday three times each, Wednesday or Friday twice each and Thursday never, and Thursday was the worst five times. See our SIP-date post for the day-of-month version.
This is commentary on published data, not investment advice. WealthTicker is not a SEBI-registered adviser or distributor. Figures are WealthTicker’s own calculations from public data — AMFI’s fund NAVs and disclosures, NSE’s index and FII/DII files, and the fund houses’ monthly portfolios (how we calculate). They are as of the dates stated and can be revised by their source.
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