Sensex and Nifty End Diwali Muhurat Trading Lower for the First Time Since 2017 as Samvat 2083 Begins
The Sensex slipped 28.62 points to 80,999.40 in Sunday's Diwali session, ending an eight-year run of gains, as oil, the rupee and foreign selling weighed even though smaller shares rose.
Sunday, November 8, 2026/2 min read
India's stock market began its new Hindu year in the red for the first time since 2017. The Sensex slipped 28.62 points to 80,999.40 in Sunday's Diwali Muhurat session, ending a run of positive openings that had lasted eight years, India IPO reported, citing Mint. The fall was a rounding error in percentage terms, 0.04 percent, but the symbolism was hard to miss.
The special session marks the start of Samvat 2083 and is traditionally treated as an auspicious, mostly ceremonial hour of buying. Both benchmarks opened higher on Sunday and then faded.
How did the Sensex and Nifty close in Muhurat trading?
The Sensex finished at 80,999.40. The Nifty 50 ended around 25,024, down 6.65 points, according to Mint's report as carried by India IPO. Kotak Neo's live coverage showed the Nifty 43.95 points lower at 24,986.40 at its last update, so the two accounts differ on the exact Nifty close, though both agree on the Sensex and on the direction.
Early on, Kotak Neo said, the Sensex had been up 394.49 points and the Nifty up 94.90. Breadth was positive even as the headline indices sagged: 3,136 stocks advanced against 913 that fell, the Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.13 percent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 gained 0.94 percent. The India VIX, the market's fear gauge, rose 5.32 percent to 18.40.
Which shares and sectors moved?
Sun Pharma was the standout, up 3.24 percent to 1,920.20 rupees, with Tata Steel up 2.10 percent. The Nifty Media index gained 1.88 percent and the Nifty Pharma index 1.44 percent. Against that, Bank Nifty fell 0.27 percent and the realty index lost 0.45 percent. Mint named Mahindra and Mahindra, IndiGo, Trent, Infosys and Bharti Airtel among the biggest drags on the Sensex.
Why did the market end lower on Diwali?
Mint pointed to a familiar list: tension in the Middle East and the risk to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, expensive oil in a country that imports more than 80 percent of its crude, a weak rupee near 94 to the dollar, a US 10-year yield of 4.87 percent, and foreign investors selling roughly 4 lakh crore rupees of Indian equities in 2026, the sixth straight year of net outflows. Money has been moving toward AI-linked markets in the United States, Taiwan and South Korea, it said.
The mood was not gloomy. Avinash Agarwal of Bandhan Life told Mint that earnings growth, rather than valuation expansion, is likely to drive returns, which he expects to be moderate and selective. Over the Samvat 2082 year the Sensex fell about 3,400 points, or 4 percent, from last year's Muhurat close of 84,426.
Indian exchanges stay shut on Tuesday for the Diwali holiday, so the next full session is Wednesday, after Tuesday's US inflation print.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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Outspoken Digest Markets DeskReports for The Outspoken Digest across Business, Crypto.
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