As Samvat 2083 gets underway on 8 November 2026, the BSE and NSE are set to hold their annual Muhurat trading session from 2:20 pm to 3:30 pm IST — a one-hour symbolic window that marks the Hindu financial new year and traditionally invites fresh investments ahead of the Diwali festivities. Historical data show the session has delivered gains in eight of the last ten years, offering cautious optimism for participating investors.

Decade of Data: Gains Outweigh Losses

According to historical market data, both the Nifty and Sensex posted losses only in 2016 and 2017 during the Muhurat session. The Nifty fell 0.14% in 2016 and 0.63% in 2017, while the Sensex declined 0.04% and 0.59% in the same years respectively. From 2018 onwards, both indices have held firmly in positive territory across every single session.

Gains, however, have been characteristically modest — typically below 1% — reflecting the session's symbolic rather than purely speculative character. The strongest year for the Nifty was 2022, when it advanced 1%, while the Sensex posted its best Muhurat return of 0.87% that same year.

What Happened in the Most Recent Session

In the 2025 Muhurat trading session, both indices opened positively and briefly touched their respective 52-week highs at the time. However, early gains faded as the session progressed. The Sensex ultimately closed up 63 points, or approximately 0.07%, at 84,426, while the Nifty added 25 points, or around 0.1%, to settle at 25,868 — the slimmest advance in the eight-year positive run.

Year-by-Year Nifty and Sensex Muhurat Returns

The Nifty's year-by-year Muhurat performance from 2018 reads: +0.7% (2018), +0.37% (2019), +0.47% (2020), +0.5% (2021), +1% (2022), +0.5% (2023), +0.4% (2024), and +0.1% (2025).

The Sensex mirrored this trend closely: +0.7% (2018), +0.49% (2019), +0.45% (2020), +0.5% (2021), +0.87% (2022), +0.54% (2023), +0.42% (2024), and +0.07% (2025).

What Muhurat Trading Means for Investors

The session coincides with Diwali, Hinduism's festival of lights, and is rooted in the belief that investments made on this day carry auspicious significance. For many retail investors, it functions less as a high-stakes trading window and more as a ceremonial entry point into equity markets for the new Samvat year. Notably, the consistent positive bias — eight straight years — has also attracted short-term tactical interest from domestic institutional participants.

With Samvat 2083 beginning amid a broadly uncertain global macro backdrop, all eyes will be on whether the benchmark indices can extend the winning streak when the closing bell rings on Sunday evening.