Indian Equity Benchmarks Open Samvat 2083 with Marginal Decline During Muhurat Trading

Equity benchmarks closed marginally lower in the one-hour Muhurat Trading session on Sunday, snapping a seven-session winning streak. Markets entered Samvat 2083 on a cautious note following a year of sharp underperformance.

The Nifty 50 fell 43.95 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 24,986.40, slipping just below the 25,000 mark after opening at 25,070 and touching an intraday high of 25,131.85. The BSE Sensex eased 28.62 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 80,999.40. On the BSE, 3,253 stocks advanced against 947 decliners, with 130 stocks hitting 52-week highs.

Sectoral performance was mixed during the short session. Pharma and media led the gains, each rising over 1 per cent. Sun Pharma topped Nifty gainers at 2.96 per cent, followed by Tata Steel at 2.09 per cent and ONGC at 1.31 per cent. Meanwhile, SBI Life (-1.11 per cent), IndiGo (-1.07 per cent), and Bharti Airtel (-1.03 per cent) emerged as the top laggards.

Sunday’s session followed an extraordinary rally where the Nifty had gained 8.58 per cent in the week ended November 6, marking its strongest weekly performance since February 2021. That rally was driven by softer crude oil prices, renewed foreign buying, and a global technology sell-off that rotated flows toward emerging markets.

Reviewing historical records, the Nifty has closed higher in eight of the last ten Muhurat Trading sessions from 2016 to 2025. Samvat 2082 proved to be a challenging period, during which the Nifty 50 declined approximately 10.88 per cent. Foreign portfolio investors sold over ₹3 lakh crore of equities during this time, while domestic mutual funds absorbed the pressure by investing ₹5.37 lakh crore. Monthly SIP inflows reached a record ₹32,490 crore in September 2026 despite the falling benchmarks, and the Nifty’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio contracted from 22.72 to 20.65 times.

During the gathering, National Stock Exchange MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan noted that the exchange now serves 27 crore accounts and 13.7 crore unique customers. He highlighted the launch of Electronic Gold Receipts, with over 1,00,000 units traded on debut. Regarding artificial intelligence, Chauhan stated that India's approximately 60 lakh IT professionals provide a structural advantage, adding a caution that retail investors should avoid investing all their money or borrowing to trade.

Market analysts maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook. Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-Founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, cited the confluence of low valuations and high earnings growth as potential drivers for returns by next Diwali. Conversely, Uday Kotak, Founder and Non-Executive Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank, flagged oil prices and interest rates as key risks, warning of global overvaluation driven by AI-related borrowing booms and anticipating potential repo rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India.

"The muted start to Samvat 2083 reflects a realistic digestion of the broader macroeconomic environment after a volatile previous year. While retail participation and domestic mutual fund inflows continue to provide strong structural support to the Indian markets, investors must remain mindful of global risks such as crude oil fluctuations and interest rate trajectories. A selective, disciplined approach focused on fundamental earnings growth remains essential for long-term value creation in this market phase." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes