Business: The Indian share market will open for an hour this evening for a special trading session on Diwali. Muhurat trading session, as it is called, is an annual ritual in the Indian share market that marks the beginning of the Hindu calendar known as Samvat.

Vikram Samvat is a lunisolar calendar that runs 57 years ahead of the Gregorian calendar. This Diwali marks the beginning of Samvat 2081.

Muhurat trading

In Hindu tradition, the word 'Muhurat' means an auspicious time. Muhurat trading is a ritual followed by Indian stock traders that is considered auspicious for investing in shares. It is unique only to the Indian share market.

This year, the hour-long muhurat trading session will begin at 6 pm today on both the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange. The pre-opening session will be from 5:45 pm-6 pm.

The market, however, will be closed during its usual hours on Friday: 9:15 am-3:30 pm. Saturday and Sunday are market holidays, as usual.

The muhurat trading session is considered auspicious for long-term investors planning to begin their financial journey. One may consider large-cap stocks for such investments.

The market is expected to be bullish due to the festive spirit despite being in the red for most of October. Sensex, which is an indicator for the top 30 BSE stocks, ended below 80,000 points for the second consecutive session last afternoon after crashing from its peak of 85,000-plus over a month ago.

Stocks to watch out for

MCX is among the stocks to watch out for today after Praveena Rai took charge as its MD and CEO on Thursday. Reliance is also in the spotlight after the European Union approved its joint venture with Walt Disney Co. for Jio for its entertainment business. Bonus shares issued by the company are also set to start trading on bourses today.