<p>People celebrate Diwali in India as a festival of lights and prosperity and worship Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.<br /><br />However, the stock market trends have not been encouraging since last Diwali and the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, has fallen by a whopping Rs 17 lakh crore.<br /><br />Taking into account a total 239 days of trade since last Diwali on November 5, 2010, and six-and-half hours of trade every day, the average per-hour loss works out to be Rs 1,094 crore for the market.<br /><br />Market analysts expect this Diwali, which also marks the beginning of a new Samvat (Hindu calendar year) 2068, to bring some good luck to the Dalal Street.<br /><br />This year, Diwali would be celebrated on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, when the markets would conduct a muhurat trading to mark the beginning of a new Samvat.<br />Taking into account the 20 per cent fall in the benchmark Sensex during the current Samvat, the investors have lost one-fifth of value in their holdings since last Diwali.<br />The 30-share benchmark index currently stands at 16,785.64 points -- down 4,219.32 points or over 20 per cent since last Diwali, when the Sensex had scaled its record closing level of 21,004.96 points during its muhurat trade.<br /><br />In the process, the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market valuation of all the listed stocks, has fallen to around Rs 60,00,000 crore -- a huge dip of close to Rs 17,00,000 crore since November 5, 2010.<br /><br />"Market have had one of the worst performances. In this dull patch, many stocks have hit 52-week low and some of them hit multi-year lows. For investors, the experience till date is tumultuous," Ashika Stock Brokers Research Head Paras Bothra said.<br /><br />Experts believe that a host of issues, such as high inflation, soaring interest rates, deteriorating corporate performance, slowing of economic growth and political upheaval, have dented market sentiments in past one year.<br /><br />The first quarter of Samvat year 2068, which would commence from October 26, is still expected to be muted primarily due to the aforesaid factors and lingering doubts over a resolution to euro-zone debt crisis.<br /><br />Experts said investor sentiments are likely to improve after the first quarter of Samvat 2068 and the year could be good second quarter onwards.<br /><br />"Sensex should be around 18,500 to 18,700 by next Diwali," Kejriwal Research and Investment Services Director Arun Kejriwal said.</p>
<p>People celebrate Diwali in India as a festival of lights and prosperity and worship Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.<br /><br />However, the stock market trends have not been encouraging since last Diwali and the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market value of all listed stocks, has fallen by a whopping Rs 17 lakh crore.<br /><br />Taking into account a total 239 days of trade since last Diwali on November 5, 2010, and six-and-half hours of trade every day, the average per-hour loss works out to be Rs 1,094 crore for the market.<br /><br />Market analysts expect this Diwali, which also marks the beginning of a new Samvat (Hindu calendar year) 2068, to bring some good luck to the Dalal Street.<br /><br />This year, Diwali would be celebrated on Wednesday, October 26, 2011, when the markets would conduct a muhurat trading to mark the beginning of a new Samvat.<br />Taking into account the 20 per cent fall in the benchmark Sensex during the current Samvat, the investors have lost one-fifth of value in their holdings since last Diwali.<br />The 30-share benchmark index currently stands at 16,785.64 points -- down 4,219.32 points or over 20 per cent since last Diwali, when the Sensex had scaled its record closing level of 21,004.96 points during its muhurat trade.<br /><br />In the process, the total investor wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market valuation of all the listed stocks, has fallen to around Rs 60,00,000 crore -- a huge dip of close to Rs 17,00,000 crore since November 5, 2010.<br /><br />"Market have had one of the worst performances. In this dull patch, many stocks have hit 52-week low and some of them hit multi-year lows. For investors, the experience till date is tumultuous," Ashika Stock Brokers Research Head Paras Bothra said.<br /><br />Experts believe that a host of issues, such as high inflation, soaring interest rates, deteriorating corporate performance, slowing of economic growth and political upheaval, have dented market sentiments in past one year.<br /><br />The first quarter of Samvat year 2068, which would commence from October 26, is still expected to be muted primarily due to the aforesaid factors and lingering doubts over a resolution to euro-zone debt crisis.<br /><br />Experts said investor sentiments are likely to improve after the first quarter of Samvat 2068 and the year could be good second quarter onwards.<br /><br />"Sensex should be around 18,500 to 18,700 by next Diwali," Kejriwal Research and Investment Services Director Arun Kejriwal said.</p>