CHENNAI
Indian shares made modest gains in a special “muhurat” one-hour trading session for Diwali on Saturday, driven mainly by oil and gas and some banking stocks
“Muhurat” means auspicious in Hindi, and many traders believe gains made during this session bring prosperity and wealth in the year ahead. Regular trading resumes on Tuesday.
The benchmark BSE index rose 0.45% to 43,637.98, while the NSE index climbed 0.47% to 12,780.25.
The S&P BSE oil and gas index settled 1.47% higher. State-run refiner Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd was the top gainer on the National Stock Exchange, rising 4.8%.
Shares in the Tata Steel settled 1.16% higher. Tata Steel said on Friday it had received an approach from Sweden’s SSAB AB about buying its Dutch unit.
BPCL investors were among the happiest lot, as the stock climbed 5.19 per cent to Rs 414.45, emerging as the biggest gainer among Nifty constituents. Indian Oil, Tata Motors, HDFC Life Insurance, Sun Pharma and Coal India NSE 0.95 % were other major gainers, rising 1-3 per cent.
On the other hand, Hindalco was the biggest loser in the pack, falling 1.21 per cent to Rs 208. Hero MotoCorp, JSW Steel, SBI, Bajaj Finance and Shree Cement were other top losers, down up to 1 per cent.
Volatility indicator, India VIX, came down further, signalling a drop in nervousness among traders. The index settled 2.8 per cent down at 19.15.
Broader market induces also logged solid gain, outperforming their headline peers. Nifty Smallcap Index added 0.67 per cent and Nifty Midcap 0.38 per cent. Nifty500, the broadest index on NSE, advanced 0.38 per cent.