You read that right. I know you’re squinting at the multi-syllabic Greek words and wondering what they mean. ‘Triskaidekaphobia’ means Fear of the number 13, while ‘Paraskevidekatriaphobia’ takes it a step further and suggests Fear of Friday the 13th.

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The Nifty has perched itself between the 20 and the 50 day moving average (DMA), waiting for important triggers in the near future. The fate of goods and services tax (GST) rates, the outcome of the US-China trade tensions as December 15 deadline looms, and capital raising plans of various banks would be the key points to check-off the list before market participants set out for their year-end holiday.

The superstitious argue it’s Friday, the Thirteenth. So let’s turn the calendar and see what previous 13 “Friday the Thirteenths” have meant for our market.

In the last 13 such Fridays:

The Nifty has ended lower on 8 occasions, higher 7 times and unchanged on one. The average move over last 13 sessions has been -0.26 percent.

On down days, the average loss has been 0.78 percent. In particular, the March 13, 2015 was especially spooky as the Nifty lost 1.5 percent on that Friday.

On up days, the average gain has been 0.78 percent. A month before March 13, 2015, i.e. February 13th was particularly cheerful as the Nifty lost 1.1 percent that day.

The last time 13th April fell on a Friday was in September 2019, that day the Nifty ended higher by 0.85 percent to close at 11,075. Since then, the index has been higher by over 7 percent. It will be interesting to see how the day pans out.

While this data isn’t to suggest what may happen today, it is perfect fodder for geeks just like the words Triskaidekaphobia and Paraskevidekatriaphobia.