BSE, NSE and MCX to hold Diwali Muhurat trading session on November 8

India's Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) will hold a special Diwali Muhurat trading session on Sunday, November 8, to mark the beginning of Samvat 2083, the new Hindu financial year. The session will run from 2:20 pm to 3:30 pm, with a pre-open period beginning at 2:05 pm.

During the pre-open, both limit and market orders can be entered until 2:10 pm, after which only limit orders are accepted until 2:15 pm. Order matching occurs from 2:15 pm to 2:17 pm, followed by a buffer period until the market opens at 2:20 pm for continuous trading. MCX will follow the same timeline, with contracts for all commodities and indices available.

BSE has separate timings for IPO and newly listed securities. Order entry for these securities starts at 2:05 pm and continues until 2:50 pm, with matching from 2:50 pm to 3:05 pm and continuous trading from 3:05 pm to 3:30 pm. For stocks under the periodic call auction mechanism, order entry runs from 2:25 pm to 3:10 pm, followed by matching and a closing auction that begins at 3:15 pm. The closing reference price will be calculated using the volume-weighted average price of trades executed between 3:00 pm and 3:15 pm.

All trades executed in the Muhurat session will settle according to standard T+1 norms, and the NSE has indicated that such trades can be cancelled or modified until 5:00 pm on the settlement day.

"Muhurat Trading was first introduced by the BSE in 1957 and has been continued by the NSE since 1992," the exchanges noted in their announcements.

The one-hour session is traditionally observed alongside Lakshmi Puja, a ritual in which investors seek blessings for prosperity before placing trades.