Nifty, Sensex close lower after special Diwali trading session

Mumbai: Indian stock markets ended lower in a brief session of special "muhurat" trading for the festival of Diwali on Sunday. The trading session that lasted slightly over an hour on Sunday, saw the benchmark BSE index end marginally lower down 0.04 percent at 27930.21 points, while the broader NSE index closed down 0.14 pct at 8625.70 points. "Muhurat" means auspicious in Hindi, and traders believe gains made during this auspicious session bring prosperity and wealth in the year ahead.

Sensex off day's high, but set to end on firm note

The market, which gave up a significant portion of its gains around mid afternoon, has edged up a bit now, regaining some lost ground, and looks heaed for a firm close today. Though Asian markets ended mostly higher, major European markets are slightly weak on profit taking. The Sensex is up 155.99 points or 0.55% at 28,568.88. The Nifty50 is up 27.65 points or 0.32% at 8770.20. ITC is up 2.7%, topping the list of Sensex gainers. Reliance Industries is trading 2% up. Bajaj Auto, Adani Ports, ONGC, Power Grid Corporation, Maruti Suzuki, Hero Motocorp, Axis Bank and GAIL India are up 1.5% - 2%. Cipla, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Larsen & Toubro are also trading higher. Eicher Motors, up 3%, is the top gainer in the Nifty index. Grasim Industries is up 2%. Bosch, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Aurobindo Pharma and Kotak Bank are also trading firm. Meanwhile, Yes Bank is down nearly 4%. BHEL, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, Hindalco, Tata Motors, Zee Entertainment Enterprises and Idea Cellular are lower by 1% - 2%. Hinduja Foundries, which plunged 20% on Thursday, is down more than 18% now, extending its losses. The stocks is getting battered after the boards of Ashok Leyland and HFL approved the merger of the two companies.