Nifty, Sensex rise in special ‘muhurat’ trading session on Diwali

(Reuters) – Indian shares made modest gains in a special “muhurat” one-hour trading session for Diwali on Wednesday, shored up by large-cap IT and financial stocks.

The benchmark Sensex rose 0.7 percent to 35,237.68, while the broader Nifty climbed 0.65 percent to 10,598.4.

Software services exporter Infosys Ltd was the top boost to the Nifty with a gain of 1.4 percent.

Manappuram Finance Ltd climbed 4.9 percent after the non-banking financial company on Tuesday reported strong quarterly earnings.

Auto stocks also saw strong buying interest with the Nifty Auto index rising nearly 1 percent. Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd led the gains with a rise of 1.9 percent and was the biggest percentage gainer on the NSE index.

E-commerce company Infibeam Avenues Ltd surged 14.1 percent to its best close in over two weeks.

“Muhurat” means auspicious in Hindi, and many traders believe gains made during this session bring prosperity and wealth in the year ahead.

Markets are closed on Thursday, and regular trading resumes on Friday.