Muhurat Trading 2024: Sensex rises 335 points; Nifty settles above 24,300; Poly Medicure, BASF jump up to 10%

Indian equity benchmarks on Friday settled higher during Diwali's Muhurat Trading session. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack rose 335 points or 0.42 per cent to close at 79,724 and the broader NSE Nifty pack moved up 99 points or 0.41 per cent to end at 24,304.

The trading marked the beginning of Samvat 2081, the Hindu New Year. This year, the Muhurat trading session was open between 6:15 pm and 7:15 pm. The timings were similar for commodity derivatives, currency derivatives, equity futures and options (F&O), and securities lending and borrowing (SLB). Benchmark NSE today also launched its website in eight Indian languages and mobile app.

"For Samvat 2081, investors should adopt a cautious and selective approach in their trading and investment strategies. With expected volatility stemming from the upcoming US elections and economic uncertainties, it's wise to refrain from high expectations for benchmark indices at this moment. Instead, focusing on individual stocks is recommended until the market demonstrates a more defined direction. This targeted strategy allows for better navigation of potential fluctuations while identifying opportunities with solid fundamentals," said Ravi Singh, Senior Vice-President (Retail Research) at Religare Broking.

As many as 118 stocks hit their 52-week high levels today. BSE 500 stocks such as Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Crisil, Fortis Healthcare, Jubilant Pharmova, Poly Medicure, Piramal Pharma, Suven Pharmaceuticals and UTI Asset Management Company hit their respective one-year high levels. That said, 11 stocks touched their respective one-year lows today.

Out of 3,648 stocks, 3,036 stocks were seen advancing on BSE. 542 stocks were declining, while 70 stocks remained unchanged. Stocks such as Poly Medicure, BASF India, Brigade Enterprises, PCBL, Star Cement, Piramal Pharma, Maharashtra Scooters and Jubilant Pharmova surged as much as 9.93 per cent.

For Sensex, the major constituents that pulled the index higher were Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries Ltd, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Tata Motors, ITC, NTPC, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports. M&M, Reliance and Axis Bank alone contributed positively to the around 140-point climb.

On NSE, all 16 sub-indices were seen trading in the green. Nifty Auto, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Oil & Gas outperformed the NSE index by rising 1.24 per cent, 0.86 per cent and 0.84 per cent, respectively.

That said, foreign investors have remained net sellers for 24 straight sessions, offloading stocks worth Rs 1.25 lakh crore. Domestic investors, however, continued as net buyers for the 28th session. On Thursday, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold Rs 5,813.3 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 3,514.6 crore of stocks.