Muhurat trading 2026: Sensex, Nifty end lower for first time in nine years

Indian stock markets closed lower in the special Muhurat trading session on Diwali on Sunday (8 November), the first time in nine years that the benchmark indices have ended the festive session in the red. The BSE Sensex lost 28.62 points, or 0.04%, to close at 80,999.40, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell 43.95 points, or 0.18%, to 24,986.40.

Muhurat trading is the roughly hour-long ceremonial session that the stock exchanges hold every Diwali to mark the start of a new Hindu accounting year, this time Samvat 2083. This year the session was held in the afternoon for the first time, instead of the traditional evening slot.

Both indices opened higher but gave up their early gains as investors booked profits after a seven-session rally that had lifted the benchmarks 8-9% over the past week. Heavyweights such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank ended lower, along with IT and financial stocks, while pharma and healthcare stocks gained as much as 2%. Smaller companies bucked the trend: the Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.1% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 1%, and advancing shares outnumbered declining ones 2,716 to 736 on the NSE.

The last time the indices fell on Muhurat day was on 19 October 2017, at the start of Samvat 2074, when the Sensex dropped 0.6% to 32,390. Both benchmarks had closed higher in every Diwali session from 2018 to 2025; earlier losses came in 2007, 2012 and 2016. In last year’s session on 21 October 2025, the Nifty rose 0.10% and the Sensex 0.07%.

Traders put the flat finish down to profit booking and the ritual nature of the holiday session, Business Standard reported. “We’ve seen corrections and major movements in the last two years, particularly in major sectors such as IT and pharma. However, the last Samvat was very difficult for the markets and we're expecting very good market movement in Samvat 2083,” said Somil Mehta, head of retail research at Mirae Asset Sharekhan.

Ramdeo Agrawal, chairman and co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, was also upbeat. “After two years of stagnation, market has the potential to give investors bumper returns by next Diwali, because of the confluence of low valuation and high earnings growth,” he said, according to The Indian Express. The India VIX, a gauge of expected volatility, rose about 5% for a third straight session. Markets are shut on Tuesday for a holiday, making this a shortened trading week.