Mercury aspect with Mars

Stocks mostly treaded water last week as foreign buying continued to keep markets afloat in spite of heavy overhead resistance. The Sensex made a fractional gain to close at 17,692 while the Nifty finished the week at 5290. I had been somewhat non-committal about last week owing to an absence of clear signals. I had thought that the introduction of the Aries and Mars influence might have generated more downside, however temporary. Indeed, we did see the market pull back on Tuesday after Monday’s tentative session.

This decline coincided with the Full Moon and generated the expected reversal from the previous day’s sentiment. Wednesday’s “puzzle” of simultaneous positive and negative aspects ended in a wash as stocks edged only slightly lower.

Thursday’s gain was a little surprising given the awkward condition of the Moon in Swati, but it seems the favorable rays of Jupiter’s aspect cast the deciding vote in the matter.

This week will begin with Mercury, the planet of trading, in aspect with Mars and Pluto. Both of these planets are considered malefics, so that increases the probability of declines, especially early in the week, when the angles are at their closest. Tuesday stands out somewhat in this regard due to the minor aspect between the Sun and Rahu, which may produce a state of confusion in some quarters. The Moon also conjoins Rahu on Tuesday, so that increases the likelihood that the consequences of the trading day may be particularly significant.

Wednesday may see a positive start to the day as the Moon enters Capricorn, but may be more prone to correction near the close. The late-week period seems somewhat less negative as the Sun and Jupiter form a minor aspect. This will become exact on Friday so that day is perhaps more likely to see gains.
With both Mercury and Venus still settling into their transit of fiery Aries, the market does not seem to be on solid footing.

The prospect of another Saturn-Uranus aspect at the end of April also does not offer clear support to further rallies in the near term.

Thus far, April is shaping up to be a choppy month at best.

Crude oil surged last week closing above $85 for the first time since 2008. While I expected some upside, the absence of any major down days left prices higher overall.The Mercury-Pluto aspect is unlikely to boost prices further so crude looks like it may fall here. Some stability may return late in the week on the Sun-Jupiter angle.

As the dollar slipped, gold rose more than 2% last week closing at $1,126 on the futures contract. Gold is likely to be out of favour this week, with the exception of the late week boost from the Sun-Jupiter aspect.