A special muhurat trading session will be held by the NSE and BSE to mark the auspicious occasion of Diwali. The session will be conducted between 5 pm and 6:40 pm on Wednesday. “A special live trading session shall be held on Wednesday, November 07, 2018 on account of Muhurat trading on Diwali,” National Stock Exchange said in a circular. “All trades executed in this Diwali Muhurat trading session shall result in settlement obligations,” the statement added.

The muhurat trading is usually held on the Diwali evening for an hour. The broking community performs Lakshmi Puja and trade during this period. This year, the block deal session will be held from 5 pm to 5:15 pm and pre-open session will be conducted from 5:15 pm to 5:23 pm.

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The normal trading will open at 5:30 pm and will close at 6:40 pm. This will be followed by a cooling period of 10 minutes from 6:40 pm to 6:50 pm. In the pre-open session, the order entry period will be between 5:15 pm and 5:23 pm while matching and determination of equilibrium prices will take place from 5:23 pm to 5:30 pm.

Here is all you need to know about Muhurat Trading –

What is Muhurat Trading?

It is a special one-hour trading session conducted on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. The session also marks the beginning of a new year or ‘Samvat’ for Gujaratis and Marwaris – two communities that dominate the stock broking sector in India. It is believed that muhurat trading brings wealth and prosperity throughout the year.

When did it start?

It has been going on since trading started on BSE in 1957 and on NSE in 1992. Since the investors prefer buy orders rather than sell orders on this day, markets generally end on a positive note.

Last year’s performance

Over the last decade, traders have witnessed losses only on four occasions – with 2017 being one of them. A maximum cut of over half a per cent was seen in October 2017. The market has had a tough year in 2018 as factors like Punjab National Bank (PNB) scam, decline in mid- and small-cap stocks, introduction of additional surveillance measures on select stocks, trade war, crude surge and rupee depreciation have weighed on indices. Despite this, the investors would bet on a positive market going by the past record.

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How did Samvat 2074 end?

On the last day of Samvat 2074, the Sensex rose 41 points to 34,991 points. During Samvat 2074, the Sensex rose 7%, with infotech stocks posting strong outperformance. The BSE and NSE will remain closed on Thursday (November 8) on the occasion of Diwali Balipratipada.

How to catch muhurat trading live updates?

For live updates of muhurat trading, follow FinancialExpress.com