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ShareMumbai: Stocks lost ground on all five trading days last week as investors reacted to weak second quarter earnings and deteriorating global sentiment. The Sensex lost 6% before closing Friday at 15896 while the Nifty finished at 4711. This was largely in keeping with our bearish forecast as the deeper negativity engendered in the Sun-Mars aspect outweighed any potential boost from the Venus-Jupiter aspect. I had wondered if we might see more strength from the Moon-Jupiter conjunction early in the week, but the effects of the double debilitation of Sun and Mars countered all rally attempts. The failure of positive Venus-Jupiter influence to create anything more than brief intraday rallies is further evidence that the fundamental direction of the market may have shifted.
With the Sun conjoining Mercury under the difficult aspect of Mars this week, stocks may be under continued pressure. In addition, we will see the nodes change signs here as Rahu enters Sagittarius and Ketu enters Gemini. This is an additional destabilising factor that could weigh on sentiment at least as a background influence.
On Monday, Venus forms favourable minor aspects to both Uranus and Neptune. While the Mumbai exchanges are closed, this positive energy may well carry into Tuesday's session. However, the Moon will be in fiery Aries on Tuesday, so that may not provide a conducive environment for sustainable gains.
If Tuesday ends lower, then that bodes very poorly for the week. Wednesday and Thursday will have the Moon in Taurus and, given Venus' relative strength here in Libra, we could see more bullishness manifest then. However, Friday looks more difficult again as the Moon enters Gemini opposite dangerous Pluto and falls under the aspect of pessimistic Saturn.
Although up-days and rallies are still possible here, the current planetary climate seems hostile to a sustained rise in stock prices. We have mentioned the potential negative effects of the Ketu-Uranus and Saturn-Pluto aspects towards the middle of November. In addition, we may note that Jupiter is quite weak here. Not only is it debilitated in Capricorn, but it just entered Dhanistha two weeks ago. This nakshatra is ruled by Mars, and with Mars weakened by its own debilitation in Cancer, this has created a negative feedback loop that may not significantly improve for several weeks, and perhaps longer. Jupiter will remain in difficulty in Dhanistha until late January while Mars stays fallen in Cancer until May 2010.
With global economic worries reawakened, crude oil finally retreated off its recent highs and closed at $77. This result was mostly in line with expectations as Saturn suffered indirect weakness through the Sun-Mars aspect. This week also could be problematic for crude as Sun conjoins Mercury in Libra while under Mars' influence.
Gold suffered a mild correction last week as it closed Friday at $1045 on the continuous contract. Given the affliction of the Sun by Mars, this bearish result was largely expected, even if the pullback was fairly modest. Gold may continue to come under selling pressure in the near term as the Sun continues to transit Libra, its sign of debilitation.
Nonetheless, we could see some strength once Venus also enters Libra after Tuesday. So while our medium term bias remains bearish, we cannot rule out the possibility of range-bound trading with a day or two of solid gains.
The writer is a neo-Vedic astrologer specialising in predictive astrology. Views are personal.
