Comment

Stocks in Mumbai bounced back a bit last week as investors were satisfied by initial European Union (EU) promises to bailout Greece and prevent a contagion of sovereign debt defaults. The Sensex rose more than 2% for the week, closing Thursday at 16152 while the Nifty finished at 4826.

I had been a little more bearish on the basis of the coming Mercury-Mars opposition, although I had allowed for the possibility that the fallout could be delayed somewhat given the holiday closing last Friday. Otherwise, the market action was not widely at variance with expectations.

The market reversed its downtrend on Monday as I thought it might given that the irritability of the Scorpio Moon was neutralised by the pleasing vibrations of the Venus-Neptune conjunction later in the day. Tuesday was also higher as forecast. I had been uncertain about Wednesday, and stocks in fact ended lower, while Thursday’s gain came somewhat unexpectedly on the Moon-Rahu conjunction.

While the market broke the string of three losing weeks in this correction, the extent of the bounce was relatively modest; so it seems the correction may still be in force. This cautionary mood fits with the ongoing Mars retrograde cycle and the aftermath of January’s difficult solar eclipse.

This week will see an unusually high number of planetary aspects early in the week that could signal volatility and the possibility of a change in the overall market direction. The high number of close aspects this week increases the possibility of larger price moves in either direction.

Monday features a conjunction between the vitality of the Sun and the dreaminess of Neptune. This combination could correspond to some kind of significant EU policy announcement on Greece as the bailout plans would entail faith in the promise or dream (Neptune) of a solution to the debt crisis offered by the governments (Sun) of the stronger EU partners. The difficulty is that Monday and Tuesday feature an exact aspect between malefics Mars and Saturn. The involvement of these two negative planets could simply reflect the intractability of the debt problem and need not influence market response to the plan. However, both Mars and Saturn are stronger than usual here since they are retrograde so we cannot dismiss the possibility of further downside moves.

Tuesday and Wednesday may see spending increases and increased appetite for risk as Venus conjoins Jupiter in Aquarius. While this bodes well for at least one day of gains, the simultaneity of the Mars-Saturn aspect again makes the market impact harder to read. Wednesday may be more vulnerable to declines due to the Moon’s opposition to Saturn. The late week period looks calmer and may be more conducive to gains.

While we can see that some respite from the recent correction is quite possible over the next couple of weeks, it is difficult to see how the market can rally sufficiently given the ongoing Mars retrograde cycle and the sequence of destructive Saturn aspects that will be formed throughout the month of March.

Crude oil rose last week closing about $74 on the continuous futures contract. The early week strength arrived on schedule as crude saw gains in the first four days of the week. Also, in keeping with our forecast, it suffered some profit-taking on Friday, however, as the Mars-Saturn aspect tightened.

This week looks difficult in the early going with the possibility of significant losses perhaps back to $70. The later week period seems more stable so some rebound is likely then.

Gold futures rallied strongly last week closing at $1094, up 3%. While I did not rule out a rise, I had been leaning towards a somewhat less enthusiastic bounce. Gold may suffer from the Sun’s conjunction with Neptune early in the week although there is a good chance for gains later on.

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