Diwali 2020: Sensex, Nifty hit lifetime highs in special Muhurat trading session

The Indian stock markets started Samvat 2077 on strong note with both Sensex and Nifty hitting their new lifetime highs in Saturday's Muhurat trading session. The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 390 points to hit fresh high of 43,830 levels, while the Nifty50 index gained over 70 points to 12,790, as buying activity gathered momentum as investors opened their books on the first session of Samvat 2077.

Coming off from day's high, the BSE Sensex closed Diwali trading session at 43,637.98, up 194.98 points or 0.45 per cent, and the NSE Nifty ended 50.65 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 12,770.60.

Among the individual stocks, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, L&T, ITC, and Axis Bank were among top gainers.

On the sectoral front, all the indices were trading in green, with telecom and oil and gas emerging as top gainers, rising over 1 per cent each.

For many years now, stock exchanges BSE and NSE hold a one-hour special symbolic Muhurat trading session to mark the auspicious occasion of Diwali. The BSE and NSE opened for an hour, from 6.15 pm to 7.15 pm with pre-open at 5.45 pm to 6:00 pm.

Investors open their new books in this festive session, as the word "Muhurat" means an auspicious time to start something. Many traders also purchase stocks on this occasion for the long run as they believe gains made during this session bring prosperity and wealth in the year ahead.

In the previous Samvat 2076, Sensex rose 192 points to end at 39,250, while Nifty added 0.65% to close at 10,598. Sensex has settled higher in 11 of the last 14 Muhurat trading sessions.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex ended 85 points higher at 43,443 and Nifty closed 29 points higher at 12,719, ahead of Muhurat trading scheduled on the eve of Diwali. IndusInd Bank, followed by SBI, L&T, Axis Bank, HDFC twins, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank were among the top losers today. On the other hand, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries, Titan, Bajaj Finance and Sun Pharma were trading with gains. Barring FMCG and media, all the sectors closed bullish today, with over 1% gains registered in media, pharma and realty.

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