Comment

Stocks in Mumbai started 2010 off on a largely positive note as late-week worries over valuations were not enough to outweigh early-week optimism.The Sensex added less than 1% overall before closing Friday at 17540 while Nifty ended the week at 5244.

I had thought we might see a little more downside overall especially given Monday’s Sun-Mercury conjunction. As it happened, the market opened the year with a modest gain and that set the stage for Tuesday’s significant advance on the Mercury-Venus conjunction. This positive outcome on Tuesday was more or less in keeping with expectations. However, enthusiasm faded over the rest of the week as the Mars influence on Sun and Venus made investors jittery. In last week’s column, I had wondered if the late-week market would be more mixed as Friday’s Sun-Venus influence might be able to offset some of the tense Mars energy.

However, Indian markets stayed in the red for the whole day with only the US markets managing to rise above water by Friday’s close. While the market rose overall, there is still a fair amount of indecision, and this is perhaps a reflection of the current array of offsetting planetary influences.

There are a number of potentially big market movers this week, including a triple conjunction, Saturn changing its direction on Wednesday and Friday’s solar eclipse.

The week begins with a bang as there is a triple conjunction of Sun, Venus and Rahu in Sagittarius.This conjunction occurs just after the close of trading on Monday but it could coincide with large price move on either Monday or Tuesday. Although Rahu is often considered troublesome, the presence of Venus in this triad could well be enough to put a positive spin on things. By Wednesday, some souring of the mood is more likely as Saturn begins its five-month retrograde cycle and the Moon conjoins Pluto.Both the Sun and Venus enter Capricorn on Thursday so that may be supportive of sentiment, especially surrounding large-cap stocks.

Friday’s eclipse occurring in the afternoon could correspond with a rise in anxiety which would be negative for stocks.Overall, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives this week, especially if we see a significant up-day on Monday or Tuesday.

Even with the positive bias this week, there are new challenges emerging for the market. Friday’s solar eclipse occurs on the same day as Mercury turns direct once again and just two days after Saturn changes its direction. The closeness of these phenomena has the potential to shift or, at least, interrupt underlying sentiment. We will have to pay close attention to how the market incorporates these new energies as we move forward.

Crude oil continued its recent winning ways last week closing above $82 on the futures contract. I had been more bearish on the Sun-Mercury conjunction, but it seems that the quick follow-up by Venus was enough to reassert bullish sentiment. This week also looks positive for crude as Rahu is likely to enhance speculative actions in its conjunction with the Sun and Venus. It is possible that crude may suffer on Wednesday as Saturn turns retrograde.

Gold rebounded strongly last week, closing up 4% at $1136. While I had expected a bounce , I was surprised that the gains began exactly on Monday’s Sun-Mercury conjunction. Gold is poised to rise further here especially on the early week Sun-Venus-Rahu conjunction. After that, the picture getss murkier.

The writer is a neo-Vedic astrologer specialising in predictive astrology. Views are personal.