Sensex, Nifty close lower after special Diwali trading session

Indian shares ended lower on Thursday in a brief session of special “muhurat” trading for the festival of Diwali, with banking stocks such as ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd declining the most.

The trading session, which lasted for about an hour, saw the Sensex close down 0.6 percent at 32,389.96, while the Nifty ended 0.63 percent lower at 10,146.55. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank fell 2.1 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

Bharti Airtel Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd gained over 3 percent each after Reliance Industries Ltd’s telecoms arm Jio revised tariff offers ahead of the festival season.

“Muhurat” means auspicious in Hindi, and many traders believe gains made during this session bring prosperity and wealth in the year ahead. Regular market trading will resume on Monday.