Markets end slightly lower in Muhurat trading, first Diwali fall in eight years

Indian shares ended marginally lower in the special Muhurat trading session on Deepavali, Sunday, 8 November, ending a seven-day run of gains for the benchmark indices.

It was the first time in eight years that the Diwali session closed in the red, The Indian Express reported. Among the 30 companies in the BSE Sensex, Infosys, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Trent, InterGlobe Aviation, which runs IndiGo, and Mahindra & Mahindra fell the most, while Power Grid, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki and Sun Pharma gained.

The run-up

The session followed a strong week. On Friday, 6 November, the Sensex rose 1,718 points, or 2.17%, to close at 81,028.02, and the Nifty 50 ended at 25,030.35, its seventh rise in a row and its first close above 25,000 since 27 February. Buying by foreign investors, a fall in crude oil prices and good September-quarter results drove that rally.

What the session means

Muhurat trading is a one-hour session held on Deepavali to mark the start of Samvat, the new financial year for many trading communities, especially in Gujarat and Maharashtra; this year it is Samvat 2083. Volumes are usually light and much of the buying is symbolic. Market analysts caution that how the session ends says little about the year ahead.

What’s next

Regular trading resumes on Monday, 9 November. The next big test for the markets is October’s retail inflation figure, due on 12 November, which the rating agency ICRA expects at about 6.1%, above the upper limit of the Reserve Bank of India’s target range.