Stock market gears up for new Samvat

As a new Samwat year begins tomorrow on Diwali, the stock market is looking up to prosperous gains after an increase of over Rs 5 lakh crore in the overall investor wealth over the past year.

A new Hindu calendar year, Samvat 2069, will begin tomorrow on the occasion of Diwali, which is celebrated as a festival of lights and prosperity and is marked with people worshipping the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi.

Since last Diwali, the stock market benchmark has recorded a gain of about eight per cent, while the overall investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed shares, has risen by over Rs five lakh crore to nearly Rs 66 lakh crore.

Out of this, the 30 Sensex companies alone have seen their market value grow by about Rs 2 lakh crore to near Rs 30.5 lakh crore currently.

Market analysts expect this Diwali to bring even better luck to the Dalal Street. The markets would conduct a muhurat trading to mark the beginning of a new Samvat.

The Samvat year 2069, which would commence from tomorrow, is expected to be positive due to festive mood and the Sensex would trade around 18,700 level.

The 30-share benchmark index currently stands at 18,683.68 points, a surge of around 1,400 points or around 8 per cent since last Diwali, when the Sensex had scaled at 17,288.83 points during its muhurat trade on October 26, 2011.

Experts are optimistic about market scaling a new peak next year on account of smart corporate earnings in the second quarter. The market benchmark Sensex is currently nearly 2,500 points away from its record high level of 21,206.77 points (in intra-day trading), scaled on January 10, 2008.

Incidentally, the Sensex had scaled its highest ever closing level of 21,004.96 points on Diwali day two years ago on November 5, 2010. This is the only time when Sensex has closed above 21,000 level as yet.

"We are expecting that Sensex would touch a new high because of good quarterly earnings," CNI Research Kishor Ostwal said.

Another analyst Destimoney Securities MD and CEO Sudip Bandhopadhyay said, "Market would continue to be volatile till the end of the calender year 2012 but still I hope that Sensex would touch 19,000 level by that time. Investors would reap benefits only in stock specific investment."