20 October,2017 09:35 AM IST | Mumbai | Arun Kejriwal
The year begins on a low but that is not a pointer for the future, so do not read too much into an indifferent beginning
Trading for the New Year Vikram Samvat 2074 began on a brisk note. The BSESENSEX opened at 32,656.75 points, made a high of 32,663.06 points, a low of 32,319.37 points and closed at 32,389.96 points. The loss in one hour's trade was 194 points. NIFTY opened at 10,210.35 points and made a low at 10,123 points. It lost 64 points to close at 10,146.55 points.
Readers with their families at 'muhurat' trading on Laxmi Pujan day, at Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at Dalal Street. Pic/Bipin Kokate
The origins
Vikram Samvat popularly known as Samvat is the official and historical Hindu calendar of India and Nepal. It is 56.7 years ahead of the solar Gregorian calendar. The year that just got over was Samvat 2073 and the New Year beginning today is Samvat 2074.
Looking back
Samvat year 2073 has been a good one for the stock market with benchmark indices gaining between 14 and 18 per cent. BSESENSEX gained 14.25 per cent over the year while NIFTY was up 15.40 per cent. BSEMIDCAP was up 16.80 per cent and BSESMALLCAP gained 21.15 per cent. The top sectoral gainer was BSECONSUMER DURABLE up 30.335 closely followed by BSEMETAL 29.91 per cent and BSEREALTY 28.46 per cent. There was just one loser in BSEHEALTHCARE down 15.55 per cent. The ones to gain the least were BSEIT up 3.61 per cent followed by BSETECK 6.98 per cent.
It is important to note that the twelve months of Samvat 2073 had two important events in it. The first was demonetisation that happened in November 2016 and affected performance of the economy in the quarter ended December 2016. The second, which had a bigger impact, was the roll out of GST with effect from July 1 2017. This impacted two quarters with June affected in the April to June quarter and July impacted in the July to September quarter. Considering the above the fact that just one sectoral indice was in the red and two had single digit returns, the performance is good and robust.
Some solace
For those who would look at the net loss for the 'muhurat' trading and get worried about beginning on a losing streak, it would be solace that last year too we had lost on muhurat day. It is symbolic trading and does not indicate the direction for the year. We are in midst of quarterly results and they would determine the trend going forward. Wishing readers a Happy Diwali, and, a prosperous New Year Samvat 2074.
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