Equity markets surged during the special one-hour Diwali Muhurat trading session on Monday.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 524 points to end at 59,831, while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty rose 154 points to end at 17,730. The session between 6.15 pm and 7.15 pm marked the beginning of the Hindu accounting year – Samvat 2079.

In the Sensex pack, shares of Nestle India, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, HDFC, HDFC Bank and Dr Reddy’s were the top gainers. Shares of only two companies – Hindustan Unilever and Kotak Mahindra Bank – suffered losses.

Market experts said buying activity gathered momentum as investors opened their new books in the first session of the Hindu Samvat year 2079, according to PTI.

“Even though Samvat 2078 ended with marginal negative returns, the overarching feature of the year gone by was India’s distinct outperformance,” VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said. “This outperformance in a year of a war in Europe and rising inflation and interest rates in the developed world reflects rising India’s resilience.”