Muhurat Trading: Can you invest without a demat account during the auspicious hour today? | Mint

Those who intend to invest in stocks today during Muhurat trading are looking forward to get stocks in their portfolio for a long-term investment. Muhurat trading refers to a special session of trading which takes place on the evening of Diwali. This trading session typically lasts for an hour and is considered auspicious.

“Muhurat plays an important role for Indians as we believe that whatever good things we start or do on Muhurat will grow and prosper in the future. Investors have the same belief in share market investments,” says Preeti Zende, Founder of Apna Dhan Financial Services.

It is believed that trading during this time can bring good fortune and prosperity. The session usually takes place after the market closes for regular trading on the day of Diwali and is marked by increased participation from retail investors.

As we are aware, one need to have a demat account to be able to invest in stocks. And those investors who don’t have a demat account can still invest in stock markets via mutual funds.

These are the steps to follow to buy mutual fund units:

I. Visit the mutual fund house website. Enter your log in to enter.

II. After the log in, you can click ‘transact’. It will open a drop down menu with lumpsum/SIP options.

III. You can either choose the scheme in which you are already invested. Else, you can add a new scheme to invest into.

IV. After choosing the new scheme, you need to choose the category (equity, debt, index, fund of funds, hybrid liquid, overnight, etc) and scheme.

V. Enter the amount to be invested. There could be a minimum investment of ₹5,000 in case of lumpsum investment or ₹100 in case of SIP. Do not forget to opt for the number of SIPs.

It is, however, worth mentioning that muhurat trading is meant to buy stocks and gold and not necessarily for mutual funds.

“The muhurat trading is essentially to buy stocks, gold and ETFs, and not for the mutual funds. Investors attach a lot of sentimental value to this particular time. There are emotional reasons to buy stocks during this period. This is the time to worship goddess Lakshmi. And you worship goddess Lakshmi during this time. Around 80 percent of the time, trade is positive during this time for the buyers,” says Sridharan S, a Sebi-registered investment advisor and Founder of Wealth Ladder Direct.

Those who don’t want to risk investing in stocks can get exposure to gold ETFs or Nifty 50 ETFs via fund of funds (FOFs) route.  

“Most investors buy direct stock in one one-hour window on Laxmipujan day but those who do not want to take direct equity investment risk can buy MF units as well. For the sake of custom, one can invest in the MF, but units will be credited as per scheduled days (T+2). So, if the idea is to buy on the same day and also to avoid direct stocks, one can invest into Gold ETF or Nifty 50 ETF (via fund of funds),” adds Zende.