(11 May 2024)  Indian stocks sold off sharply last week as traders opted to take profits ahead of the the Lok Sabha election.  The Nifty fell by almost 2% on the week to 22,055 while the BSE Sensex finished at 72,664.  The decline may be the result of some investors hedging the election outcome in the event of some unexpected developments.

The sell-off was the possible outcome of the Mars opposition aspect to the natal Moon in the BSE horoscope.  Thursday’s decline was the largest last week as Mars (12 Pisces) was exactly opposite the Moon (12 Virgo).  Mars transits tend to be bearish, and the 180-degree opposition aspect is especially negative.  The aspected planet is also an important part of the equation and the Moon is particularly vulnerable during Mars aspects.  The vulnerability was likely heightened since the natal condition of the Moon in the BSE is quite compromised: it is is in the 12th house of loss conjunct malefic Ketu (South Lunar Node).

Now that Mars has moved off its opposition to the Moon, are stocks more likely to rise this week?  Maybe not.  Certainly, the upcoming Sun-Jupiter conjunction (May 18) should be a source of some optimism and confidence.  And the fact that it forms a close alignment with the BSE Ascendant could also be helpful.  That said, the Ascendant is somewhat speculative as the “birth time” of the BSE chart is low confidence data.

The potential problem for stocks this week is that Mars will conjoin Rahu towards the end of the week. (exact on Saturday, May 18).  Mars-Rahu alignments tend to be unsettling and could bring a rise in volatility.  But here we should pay extra attention to how it may activate the BSE chart.  On Friday, Mars (18 Pisces) and Rahu (19 Pisces) will conjoin natal Rahu (20 Pisces) and will square natal Mercury (20 Gemini).  These are clearly negative influences, although they could be a bit muted since the alignments won’t yet be exact on Friday.