Sensex loses steam after strong opening

The Samvat year 2066 started on a positive note on the bourses as the Sensex opened over 170 points higher but pared its gains on profit-taking and closed at 17,266.63 points, registering a loss of 56.19 points on Muhurat trading day.

A special one-hour Muhurat trading was held on Saturday on the bourses to mark the beginning of the new Samvat year by the Hindu calendar. Trading commenced at 6.15 pm and closed at at 7.15 pm.

The National Stock Exchange’s Nifty opened at a 52-week high of 5,159.35 and closed at 5,141.80 points.

"The valuation concerns have been overdone. Though the market has sharply appreciated, it is still not over-valued," Angel Broking's Chairman and Managing Director, Dinesh Thakkar, said on the sidelines of the Muhurat trading.

The visibility on corporate earnings would be a key driver for the markets, Thakkar said.The market has already doubled and it may witness a correction of about 10-20 per cent in the near future, Tata Mutual Fund's Managing Director, Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, said.

Sectors such as infrastructure and hotels, which have underperformed in the recent past, may see a buying interest, Chaturvedi said.

The Samvat 2065 was a very profitable year for investors, as it gave a whopping 103 per cent return.

The Sensex, which hit a high of 21,206.77 on January 10, 2008, nosedived 59.8 per cent in nine months as panic-stricken foreign investors pulled out a whopping $10.4-billion in 2009.

The BSE Sensex slumped to a 52-week low of 7,697.39 points during 'Muhurat' trading last year before closing with a gain of 8,812.80 points, or 103.56 per cent at 17,322.82.

Robust foreign fund inflows and a bullish trend in the global markets kept the market on a firm note.