Muhurat trading: Sensex, Nifty advance to start Samvat 2081 on a high

Amit Chandra, chairperson and founder of Bain Capital’s India Office and Sundararaman Ramamurthy, CEO and MD at BSE Ltd pose as they hit the ceremonial gong to start a special “muhurat” trading session in Mumbai on November 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Benchmark Sensex rose by 335.06 points, or 0.42%, to settle at 79,724.12 in a special Muhurat trading session on Friday (November 1, 2024), starting the new Samvat 2081 on a high note.

Stock exchanges BSE and NSE conducted a special Muhurat trading session from 1800 hrs to 1900 hrs on Friday to mark the beginning of the new Samvat Year 2081.

In the last Samvat 2080, which ended on Thursday, the BSE Sensex jumped 14,484.38 points, or 22.31%, and the Nifty climbed 4,780 points, or 24.60%.

Investors’ wealth rose ₹124.42 lakh crore during the period to ₹4,44,71,429.92 crore ($5.29 trillion).

Muhurat trading is a one-hour symbolic trading session conducted by stock exchanges on the occasion of Diwali, marking the start of the new Samvat year and new books of accounts by traders.

On Friday, Sensex opened on a high note and stayed in positive territory throughout the special session on buying in banking, auto, and oil & gas shares.

The index moved between a high of 80,023.75 and a low of 79,655.55 during the session.

The 50-issue Nifty of NSE rose 99 points, or 0.41%, to close at 24,304.35. As many as 42 Nifty stocks ended higher while eight shares closed with losses.

Among major Sensex gainers, Mahindra & Mahindra rose the most by 3.29%. Adani Ports gained 1.26%, Tata Motors by 1.14%, and Axis Bank by 0.92%.

Nestle, NTPC, Reliance, ITC Titan, Kotak Bank, Infosys and TCS also gained.

HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, and ICICI Bank were the losers.

Broader markets also advanced with BSE Midcap rising 0.69%, or 317.72 points, to 45,996.71. The BSE SmallCap gained 1.16% or 639.73 points to settle at 54,982.87.

BSE Auto (1.15%), consumer discretionary (1.10%), and oil & gas (0.91%) were among the major sectoral gainers.

Meanwhile, global markets were mixed as European shares rose in early trade. Most Asian markets closed with losses.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 2.6%, the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2% and South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.9%.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the Indian capital markets on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth ₹5,813.30 crore, according to exchange data.

On Thursday, BSE Sensex tumbled 553.12 points, or 0.69%, while NSE Nifty fell 135.50 points, or 0.56%.

In October, the BSE benchmark index fell sharply by 4,910.72 points, or 5.82%, and the Nifty tumbled 1,605.5 points, or 6.22%.