Planentary trio bodes anxiety for Dalal Street till midweek

Stocks rallied from their recent lows last week as banking and metals led the recovery on hopes that inflation fears were overdone.

Despite Friday’s decline, the Sensex gained almost 3% for the week to close at 18211 while the Nifty finished at 5458. This bullish outcome was not entirely unexpected, although I thought we might have seen more downside on Monday’s Saturn aspect.

As it happened, however, most of the gains were concentrated in the Monday’s session although the bulls were in charge for most of the week.

Certainly, I had noted the likelihood of some optimism around the midweek Sun-Neptune conjunction and this largely came to pass on schedule.

While the market mood brightened with last week’s gains, Saturn’s propensity for caution will likely continue to dominate the proceedings, at least until its opposition aspect with Jupiter on March 29. Since both of these planets are fairly slow moving, the negative energy from this combination will tend to be released gradually and somewhat intermittently.

In real terms, this will mean that the recovery rally we have been seeing could have more room to go, although it is unlikely to very forceful. In that sense, the prevailing influence of Saturn marks the rally as probable a countertrend. Inflation remains a major concern for investors and it will likely be a major focus of the Union Budget due on February 28.

On the day of the Budget, there will be an alignment of Sun, Jupiter and Pluto. This is quite a bullish and expansionary combination of planets and will reflect the government’s belief in its ability to guide the economy in a prosperous direction.

Jupiter with Pluto suggests strong leadership, especially in money matters, so we could see some major new initiatives that will impress most market participants. But since Jupiter symbolises growth and expansion, it is also quite possible that elements of the Budget will end up producing more inflation in the long run.

This week looks like it will begin with more volatility as Mercury, Mars and Neptune conjoin on Monday and Tuesday. Mars and Neptune tend to have negative connotations, so markets may be quite skittish up to midweek. This trio of planets will be made even more problematic due to their close aspect with Ketu.

Ketu is quite unpredictable and shadowy planet, and its influence here may correspond with unexpected situations that force sudden adjustments.

The late-week period looks more stable, however, as Mercury will conjoin the Sun while in aspect with Jupiter. This suggests that some significant recovery is likely.

Crude oil enjoyed moderate gains closing above $87 last week as unrest in Bahrain fuelled supply fears. This was largely in keeping with expectations as the midweek Sun-Neptune conjunction buoyed prices that continued through to the end of the week.

Crude is likely to fall in the early going on the Mars-Neptune conjunction but some recovery is likely by Friday’s Sun-Jupiter aspect.

The spreading of unrest in the Middle East also found gold back in favour last week as it closed above $1,380. As expected, the midweek Sun-Neptune conjunction did boost bullion and overshadowed any temporary Saturn influences.

This week’s Mercury-Mars conjunction is likely to pull the rug out from gold at least in the first part of the week. Some recovery is likely by Friday as the Sun-Jupiter aspect looks more bullish. 

The writer is a neo-Vedic astrologer specialising in predictive astrology. He runs the website www.modernvedicastrology.com