Market recap During the special Diwali Muhurat Trading session on 8 November 2026, India’s two headline indices closed modestly lower. The Sensex slipped 28.62 points, or 0.04 percent, to finish at **80,999.40**. The Nifty fell 43.95 points, a 0.18 percent decline, ending at **24,986.40**, taking it below the psychologically important 25,000 level.
The dip came after a vigorous rally the previous week. On Friday, the Sensex had surged 2.17 percent to 81,028.02 and the Nifty jumped 2.01 percent to 25,030.35, both hitting eight‑month highs. The Nifty’s breach of 25,000 was its first since 27 February. Over the week, the Nifty posted an 8.58 percent gain, buoyed by foreign institutional buying and falling crude‑oil prices.
Despite the negative close, market breadth stayed positive. **3,127** stocks advanced, **917** fell and **193** were unchanged, suggesting that buying pressure remains widespread.
Sector and stock performance Among individual equities, **Sun Pharma** emerged as the top Nifty gainer, rising **3.17 percent** to ₹1,919. **Tata Steel** added **2.09 percent** to reach ₹190.20, while **ONGC** and **Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles** posted modest gains of 1.31 percent and 1.13 percent respectively.
The laggards included **SBI Life Insurance** (‑1.11 percent), **InterGlobe Aviation** (‑1.07 percent) and **Bharti Airtel** (‑1.03 percent).
Sector‑wise, the **Nifty Media** and **Nifty Pharma** indices rose 1.71 percent and 1.70 percent respectively. In contrast, **Nifty Realty** slipped 0.66 percent, **Bank Nifty** fell 0.40 percent and **Nifty IT** declined 0.33 percent.
The broader market outperformed the benchmarks: the **Nifty Smallcap 100** gained 1.01 percent, **Aegis Vopak** (a BSE Midcap stock) surged 6.42 percent, and **Motilal Oswal Financial Services** rose 4.03 percent.
Expert views on the outlook - **Ramesh Damani**, a market veteran, believes Indian equities could be entering a new bull phase, driven by structural reforms and a potential shift of global capital toward emerging markets as AI‑related hype eases. - **Raamdeo Agrawal**, Chairman of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, projects “bumper returns” by the next Diwali, citing attractive valuations, improving earnings, lower crude prices and renewed foreign investor interest. - **Atul Suri**, CEO of Marathon Trends PMS, cautions that the current rally may be the first stage of a longer bull run, requiring more stocks to make fresh highs. He forecasts the Nifty reaching **30,000** within the next 18 months. - **Samir Arora** of Helios Capital adopts a more guarded stance, saying additional catalysts—such as changes to capital‑gains tax and better currency‑adjusted returns—are needed for a sustained upward trend.
Outlook for Samvat 2083 The Diwali session marked the start of Samvat 2083, the Hindu calendar year. While the indices ended lower, the breadth of advancing stocks and the optimism expressed by several market veterans suggest that the momentum from the previous week could carry forward, provided fresh catalysts emerge.
--- *The views expressed by the quoted experts are their own and not endorsed by Moneycontrol.*