Sensex, Nifty tick higher as Samvat 2078 begins on auspicious note

Mumbai: Domestic equity benchmarks mustered smart gains on Thursday as investors built up fresh positions in the special Muhurat trading session to mark the beginning of Hindu Samvat year 2078.

Reversing its two-session sliding streak, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 295.70 points or 0.49 percent to close at 60,067.62. On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 87.60 points, or 0.49 percent, to finish at 17,916.80.

In the Sensex kitty, prominent gainers were M&M, ITC, Bajaj Auto, L&T, Kotak Bank, Sun Pharma, and Nestle India, spurting as much as 2.87 percent. In contrast, ICICI Bank, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints, and Dr. Reddy’s closed in the red, shedding up to 0.43 percent.

Brokers said buying activity gathered pace as investors opened their new books on the first session of Samvat 2078. The excise duty cut on petrol and diesel added to the festive cheer, they said.

Global equities hovered near record peaks even after the Federal Reserve announced that it would trim its asset purchases by USD 15 billion a month from November, with investors taking heart from the US central bank’s assurance that it was in no rush to raise rates.

Barring metal, all BSE sectoral indices finished in the green, led by auto, consumer discretionary goods, capital goods, industrials, and FMCG. A similar trend was seen in the broader markets, with the BSE small-cap index jumping 1.36 percent and the mid-cap gauge gaining 0.73 percent.

Domestic markets conduct a special one-hour Muhurat trading session on Diwali every year to mark the beginning of the traditional Hindu calendar year, called ‘Vikram Samvat’.

In the previous Samvat 2077, the BSE Sensex rallied 16,133.94 points or 36.97 percent, while the Nifty soared 5,048.95 points or 39.50 percent.

The BSE and NSE will remain closed on Friday (November 5) on the occasion of ‘Diwali Balipratipada’.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 401.48 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors bought to the tune of Rs 195.55 crore, as per exchange data.