For the `Muhurat` trading session, Indian equities opened positively on Saturday (Oct 17).

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex opened on a joyful note on the first day of Samvat year 2066, after gaining 170 points. It also hit a fresh 17-month high of 17,493.17.

But, depressing signs from the worldwide markets made the stock index to trim all its early gains, during the one-hour  trading session,  pushing the benchmark index towards the pessimistic zone to hit a low of 17,260.66 after declining 229 points from the day’s high.

Finally, the Sensex ended the special session on a flat note after posting a small gain of 3.19 points at 17,326. The broad-based NSE Nifty lost 0.35 points to end the day at 5,141.80 after touching an intraday high of 5,176.80 and an intraday low of 5,124.25.

The BSE Midcap index ended the day after registering a gain of 0.65% and the BSE Smallcap index closed after surging 1.36%.

The major gainers in the Sensex pack included Sterlite Ind, which gained 2.89%, RCom surged 1.86%, Bharti Airtel climbed 1.74% and TCS increased 1.61%.

The top losers in the Sensex were ICICI Bank, which fell 1.05%, HDFC Bank dropped 0.93%, Hindalco declined 0.70%, ITC slipped 0.65% and BHEL descended 0.65%.

It may be mentioned that Sensex has given 92% return to capitalists on Diwali this year as compared to the previous year. It came up from 9,008 points to 17,326 points on Diwali this year and posted more than 92% growth during the year.

In contrast, the broad-based National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty climbed from 2,684 points last Diwali to 5,141 points this Diwali. Nifty witnessed an increase of 91.5% during the year.

The wholesale price index (WPI) Inflation last year around Diwali was hanging around 11%, while this time round about Diwali, it is ruling at 0.92%. Though the index has descended hugely since last Diwali, ironically, it is not compatible with the increasing costs of vital commodities.