BSE Sensex rallied 359 points to touch 60,131 points in the opening trade of the special Muhurat session meant to mark the beginning of Hindu Samvat year 2078. Additionally, at the time of publishing, NSE Nifty was trading 0.54 per cent or 97.05 points higher at 17,926.25.
Although markets are closed on account of Diwali, it opens for an hour between 6:15 PM to 7:15 PM every year as per a tradition followed by the BSE since 1957, and NSE from 1992.
It is believed that Muhurat trading brings prosperity and wealth throughout the year.
The 30-share index was trading higher by 358.92 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 60,130.84 in the first few minutes of trade. Nifty traded above 17,900 points in the initial minutes.
All BSE sectoral indices were in the green, led by auto, consumer durables, banks and oil and gas.
Brokers said buying activity gathered momentum as investors opened their books on the first session of Samvat 2078. All Sensex stocks were trading in the positive zone.
M&M led the gainers' pack, spurting 2.76 per cent, followed by ITC, Kotak Bank, L&T, SBI, Bajaj Auto and Nestle India.
(With Inputs from PTI)
