Mumbai, Nov 4 (IANS) The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) will hold a special Diwali trading session for an hour from 6 p.m. Friday to pay obeisance to Lakshmi -- the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity.

The other major bourse, the National Stock Exchange, will hold a similar session, called "Muhurat", at the same time to mark the New Year for traders as per the Hindu lunar calendar, Samwat 2067.

Derivatives and Futures trading will similarly be conducted at all the three major commodity exchanges in the country -- the Multi-Commodity Exchange, the National Multi-Commodity Exchange and the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange.

In stock markets where the tradition of Muhurat trading dates back to over a century, key indices have more often than not ended with gains, as most people believe in buying than selling on that day.

From the last Muhurat trading, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has risen as much as 18.77 percent to 3,234.63 points.