Sensex Gains 335 Points on Muhurat Trading Day, Ushering in a Prosperous New Year

Mumbai: The Sensex surged by 335 points in the hour-long special trading session on Friday evening, coinciding with Lakshmi Puja. This encouraging turn, after the index had lost nearly 5,500 points from its recent peak in October, has instilled optimism among investors for the newly begun 2081 Vikram Samvat.

When the muhurat trading session ended at 7 pm, the Sensex closed at 79,724.12, up 335.06 points, while the Nifty index gained 94.20 points to close at 24,304.35.

The entire day’s trading on the stock market was closed on Friday. However, the special session, which began at 6 pm, saw the Sensex jump 635 points, crossing the 80,000 mark. As per tradition, investors have a penchant for buying a representative share during the muhurat trading. From the previous Diwali to this Diwali, the Sensex and Nifty have grown by 22.31% and 24.60%, respectively. In the outgoing Samvat 2080, the Sensex gained 14,484.38 points, while the Nifty index jumped 4,780 points. The bullish trend over the year has added a whopping Rs. 124.42 lakh crore to investors’ portfolios.

The past October turned out to be the month with the highest decline for the indices, even worse than the crash experienced in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as Diwali began, the shadow of the market decline persisted, resulting in the Sensex falling 553 points yesterday (Thursday). In contrast, despite the negative sentiment in the global markets on Friday, the initial momentum of the Sensex and Nifty during the muhurat session was sustained throughout. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 26, and of the 50 stocks in the Nifty, 37 saw their values increase during the special muhurat session. The BSE Smallcap and Midcap indices also outperformed the main indices, gaining 1.16% and 0.69%, respectively, indicating a widespread buying sentiment in the market.

If investors expect high returns in the new Samvat 2081 as they did in the outgoing year, they are likely to face disappointment and disillusionment.
– Nilesh Shah, Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Investors can benefit significantly by carefully betting on select stocks. However, the selection must be made wisely.
– Jimit Modi, Founder, Samco Securities.