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The Muhurat trading session, held during Diwali, marks the beginning of the Vikram Samvat year, the new year according to one of the Hindu calendars, which is followed mainly by the Gujarati business community that dominates Dalal Street. This Sunday marked the beginning ofSamvat year 2080.
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Before the start of the hour-long Muhurat session, BSE holds a Lakshmi Puja at the Exchange’s Convention Hall, usually attended by brokers, their families and friends.
For the first time this year, the NSE also held Lakshmi Puja on its exchange premises, along with a formal bell ringing to mark the beginning of the Samvat year. At the end of the session on the NSE, Nifty was at 19,526 points, up 100 points or 0.5%.
According to NSE MD & CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan, Muhurat trading is a testament to the nation’s shared financial aspirations. “Every business done during this auspicious time promises growth and the spirit of unity among investors,” he said.
Dalal Street veterans say that on this day those who follow the Samvat year should always buy some shares, even if in small lots and should never sell any. As a large number of individual traders and traditional brokers only buy stocks while most of the institutions are closed for Diwali and hence do not trade, the sensex usually shows a rise during the Muhurat trading session. Historically, during most of the Muhurat sessions the sensex has closed higher. In the last five years, every time the index closed with gains.
In Sunday’s trade, 28 of the 30 sensex stocks closed higher with Infosys, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries contributing the most to the day’s gains. UltraTech and Sun Pharma were the only laggards among the sensex stocks, BSE data showed.
According to Motilal Oswal, group MD & CEO, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Samvat year 2079 ended with the Nifty gaining around 10%, despite economic headwinds and global geopolitical concerns. “Going into Samvat 2080, we believe that India will continue to shine and expect markets to maintain their outperformance. We believe that over the next two quarters, sector rotation would be a major driver along with the overall market trend. We expect sectors like BFSI .”