Mumbai: Indian equities markets rose moderately in a special trading session Wednesday, which lasted over an hour, with traders paying obeisance to Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. The special "muhurat" trading session was held by all major stock exchanges across the country and ushered in the New Year for traders as per the Hindu lunar calendar, or Samwat 2068. The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 4.45 p.m. at 17,336.34 points, against the previous day's close at 17,254.86 points. After trading in a tight range it closed the session at 6 p.m. at 17,288.83 points, up 33.97 points or 0.2 percent from the previous close. At the Natinal Stock Exchange, the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty nudged up 10.2 points or 0.2 percent, to close at 5,201.8 points. The Sensex, however, has fallen about 3,740 points or 17.8 percent from the last "muhurat" session in 2010, when the 30-scrip index closed at over 21,000 points. The Nifty too has lost over 1,110 points or 17.6 percent from the last "muhurat" trading session's close of 6,312.45 points. Broader markets too made modest gains with the BSE 500 index closing 0.46 percent up.