Muhurat Trading 2026: Sensex falls 29 points, Nifty below 25,000 as market snaps 6-day explosive rally on Diwali. What lies ahead in Samvat 2083?

The Indian stock market slipped into the red on Sunday, Diwali, with Sensex and Nifty snapping a six-session long winning streak after erasing early gains during the special Muhurat Trading session.

Sensex and Nifty initially opened in the green on Sunday as investors made their first trades of the new Samvat 2083. However the benchmark indices soon erased all gains. Sensex fell 29 points to close at 80,999 while Nifty 50 dropped 44 points to end the session at 24,986, slipping below the crucial psychological mark of 25,000.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), IndiGo, Trent, Infosys and Bharti Airtel shares fell nearly 1% each to lead losses on Sensex, while Sun Pharma shares jumped around 3% and Tata Steel shares gained 2% to lead gain on the benchmark index.


Broader markets outperformed, with Nifty Smallcap 250 index jumping more than 1% while Nifty Midcap 100 index was up 0.25%. The overall market breadth as a result remained positive, with NSE seeing 2,716 advances against 736 declines, while 98 stocks remained unchanged.

Nifty Metal and Nifty Pharma jumped more than 1.7% each to lead gains during the Muhurat Trading session, while Nifty Realty dropped 0.65% to emerge as the top loser. The age-old tradition involves a short one-hour trading session marked by low volumes. This coincides with Lakshmi Puja across several parts of the country during the festival of lights.

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Muhurat Trading 2026

Unlike regular trading days, when the equity market operates between 9:15 am and 3:30 pm, Muhurat Trading takes place during a shortened special session, and this year it runs from 2.20 pm to 3.30 pm. This year's session is being held on a Sunday as Diwali has fallen on the weekend.

In the commodity segment, MCX is holding its special session from 2:05 pm to 2.19 pm, while the trading session will run from 2.20 pm to 3.30 pm. The commodity exchange pointed out that contracts of all commodities and indices will be available for trading.

The decades-old tradition of Muhurat Trading was started by the Bombay Stock Exchange in 1957, and has been taken up by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) since 1992. Traditionally, brokers performed Chopda Pujan, a ritualistic worship of account books, during this session to mark the auspicious start of the new financial year.

Also read | Muhurat trading 2026 today: Date, time, settlement rules, and other key things investors should know

What lies ahead for Dalal Street?

The recent rally in Dalal Street came as strong Q2 earnings, healthy October auto sales and firm GST collections set the stage, but US Donald Trump’s loss in the midterm elections supplied the spark. “The US midterm election verdict revived hopes of de-escalation in the Iran conflict and a softer line on tariffs. Crude slumped below $100 a barrel, US Treasury yields and the dollar eased, and the rupee firmed. Foreign investors, rotating out of crowded AI trades, returned as heavy buyers after months of selling. Talk of tax relief in the upcoming Union Budget added fuel. The market even shrugged off an AI-led rout on Wall Street as investors treated India as a relative safe harbour,” the analyst said.

He added that the new Samvat opens with a holiday-shortened week, beginning with the Muhurat session today. The rally's durability hinges on breadth holding up and on de-escalation hopes turning into concrete progress in West Asia, Nair said. He however noted that after such a sharp run, intermittent profit booking cannot be ruled out, but the near-term bias stays constructive. “Investors should stay selective, favouring large-caps with earnings visibility and buy on dips strategy,” according to the analyst.

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Disclaimer: This article has been written by Debaroti Adhikary, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Debaroti Adhikary and his/her ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here.