The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) will conduct an hour-long trading session to mark the auspicious day of Diwali on Thursday. The special trading session "Muhurat" will be held between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm. Muhurat trading is a specially conducted trading session to mark Diwali. It also symbolizes the beginning of a new year or 'Samvat' for Gujaratis and Marwaris - two communities that dominate the stockbroking market in India.

According to the belief of the communities, the muhurat trading brings wealth and prosperity. The special muhurat session was first organized by the BSE in 1957 and has been there since 1992 in NSE. Markets generally end on the greener side as the investors prefer buying rather than selling their stocks.

Diwali 2020
Diwali 2021Pixabay

History of Muhurat sessions

Previous Muhurat sessions have seen equities indices ending with positive gains, despite the fact that stock movement is less and trading volume is quite low. In the year 2020, the BSE Sensex ended the Muhurat trading session at 43,638, a gain of 195 points, while the NSE concluded at 12,771, a gain of 51 points. The greatest gain during the Diwali Muhurat trading session was 5.86 percent in 2008 when dealers and investors witnessed the Sensex surge. People expect the market to conclude on a good note this year, as it does every year, on November 4th.

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How has 2021 fared for Dalaal Street?

The 30-scrip strong Sensex index has given a return of about 40% from Diwali 2020 to Diwali 2021, shattering a string of records along the way in a liquidity-driven surge. According to analysts, confidence about the economy's long-term prospects has propelled the headline indices to new highs, but near-term problems such as high valuations, supply restrictions, and high input costs remain.