MUMBAI: Samvat year 2077 started on a strong note with the sensex climbing a new lifetime high near the 43,850 mark and closed with a 195 point gain at 43,638 points, also a new closing high. Continuing the recent euphoric trend, the one-hour special trading session on Saturday night kicked off with a high with the sensex at 43,815 points, 372 points higher with HDFC Bank, Infosys and Reliance Industries leading the way.
On the NSE too, the resourceful closed at an all-time high at 12,771 points, 51 points more on the day.
Samvat, also called Vikram Samvat, is the year according to one of the Hindu calendars followed mainly by the Gujarati Business Community that dominate Dalal Street. Every year, the EEB holds a special business session on the first day of the Samvat year, which is also Diwali day. This trading period is called the Muhurat session.
Before the start of the hour-long Muhurat session, each year the EEB has a Lakshmi Puja in the Convention Hall of the exchange, which is generally attended by most of the runners, their families, friends and others. This year, however, due to the ensuing Covid-19 pandemic, attendance at the exchange was restricted.
Dalal Street veterans say that on this day, those who follow the Samvat year should always buy some shares, even in small lots, and should never sell any. With a large number of individual traders and traditional brokers resorting to just buying stocks, while most institutions are closed for Diwali, the sensex usually shows a rally during the Muhurat trading session. Historically, in most of Muhurat’s sessions, the sensex had closed higher. In the past five years, the sensex closed higher three times, but had closed deep red during Samvat 2074 and only slightly lower during Samvat 2073.
Brokers remain optimistic about the market over the next year, despite the unprecedented damage caused to the economy by the pandemic. The main reason for such optimism is the measures taken by the government in the last seven or eight months. “The formal economy is back on track, but the hurdle now is how to get the unorganized economy back on its feet,” he said. Uttam Bagri, President of the BSE Brokers’ Forum.
Market players also feel that with India Inc taking every step to revive their businesses with cost reduction as one of the main strategies, investors have responded well. These measures have pushed the stock market to a new record while the economy still languishes. They also feel that recent government policy initiatives would now help the economy to revive in the medium and long term.
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