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ShareStocks bounced back last week on bargain-hunting led by the banking sector as investors responded to positive global cues. Despite Tuesday's sell-off, Nifty ended 2% up at 4796 while Sensex finished at 16158.
While I had been more bearish here, this positive outcome was not entirely unexpected. I had been uncertain about the early week although Tuesday's decline coincided nicely with the Moon's transit of Aries and the tense Mercury-Mars square.
I had also noted the probability of a midweek bounce on the mutually reinforcing energies of the Taurus Moon as Venus entered Libra.
Perhaps the most surprising outcome was Friday's modest gain which came on a day when the Moon fell under Saturn's pessimistic influence.
As it turned out, the bullishness from the close Sun-Mercury conjunction late in the week may have nullified the difficult lunar influence.
Volatility may be the watchword this week as the approaching Ketu-Uranus aspect will also draw in Sun and Mercury to form larger, more potent alignments. Ketu is the traditional Vedic planet that connotes surprises or sudden events, while Uranus is a kind of modern equivalent as it also symbolises sudden developments and intense energies.
By themselves, these planets needn't tip the markets one way or another but the difficulty this week is that the influence of Saturn's developing aspect with Pluto may create a fearful or inhospitable environment that may hijack these more neutral aspects.
Monday's open looks like itwill have an urgent or assertive quality as the Moon conjoins Mars in Cancer just as Mars is entering Ashlesha.
While it's possible this could coincide with an urgent rush to buy, the simultaneous alignment of Venus with Saturn seems more difficult and should incline investors more towards caution. The Moon enters Leo on Tuesday, so some short-term change in sentiment is possible. Wednesday and Thursday may well be the most important days for the market as Mercury comes under the twin influences of Ketu and Uranus.
This is a highly unpredictable influence that could move equities sharply in either direction, although the general picture here does not strongly favour gains. Friday sees the Moon enter Virgo, so that may signal a calming of the volatility. If the market has declined previously, then this late week Virgo influence may coincide with a rise.
The eternal tug-of-war between bullish and bearish planets continues in the weeks ahead as the tension implied in the current Saturn-Pluto and Ketu-Uranus aspects will encounter the optimism contained in the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction which comes exact on December 21. This growing protective influence of Jupiter will likely prevent any further correction from becoming too severe, although once it passes the market will again have to confront new challenges in 2010.
Crude oil was slightly higher on the week's closing just under $78 on the continuous contract. This week's powerful symmetrical pattern involving Mercury, Uranus and Ketu could move the oil market significantly. Given the stressed situation of Saturn under the Pluto aspect, crude may be quite vulnerable here.
Gold futures surged 5% last week on news that India had made a significant purchase of 200 tonnes of gold from the IMF. The gain exceeded my expectations, although I did note the likelihood of some significant up days here on the mutual strengthening of Venus and Sun. This week will be an interesting test of the growing strength of Sun and Venus, as Venus comes under the partial influence of Saturn on Monday.
With Venus strong in Libra, gold could hold up fairly well but the effect of Saturn is rarely positive. And if gold some how manages to stay at or above these levels this week, the next week looks even more problematic. Overall, the recent euphoria over gold seems unlikely to continue much longer.
The writer is a neo-Vedic astrologer specialising in predictive astrology. He runs the website www.modernvedicastrology.com
