For stock market enthusiasts, terms like Nifty, Sensex, BSE, and NSE are commonly used, but for novice investors and curious traders who are willing to start their journey of investing after acquiring some knowledge in this field. Such an influx of information is an overwhelming dose of knowledge. Therefore, it is essential to have the basics cleared sequentially to ride the volatile waves smoothly and be equipped with the right gear and tools (i.e., decent experience and appropriate knowledge).
Let this blog be a chartered document that delves into the intricacies of the Indian stock market and how things work in the country in relevance to trading and investing. Dalal Street in Mumbai holds similar, if not more, significance in the Indian stock market compared to what Wall Street means to the US stock market. It is the headquarters of the major stock exchange of India. Asia’s oldest stock exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Another name to join the league is the National Stock Exchange (NSE), also located in Mumbai, Maharashtra, established in 1992 to end the monopoly of BSE. NSE India was the first demutualized electronic exchange in India, which means it transformed its ownership identity from being owned by its trading members to being owned by a diverse group of stakeholders. Also, it pioneered electronic trading in India, where computational trading became a buzzword in the Indian market, and many traders bid farewell to the traditional open-outcry trading system.
How do you define an index?
A stock exchange is composed of thousands of stocks from varying sectors and industries, and it is a complex task to evaluate the performance of each stock. Therefore, a small sample is taken as a barometer to gauge the performance of the overall financial market, and this sample is referred to as an index. Nifty 50 is the market index with the collection of fifty stocks listed on the NSE, and these stocks belong to companies with a sound financial standing.
Following are some pointers about the Nifty 50:
- A nifty index is calculated using 50 stocks of large companies actively traded on the NSE.
- It is owned and managed by Indian Index Services and Products.
- All fifty companies are selected based on free-float market capitalization.
- These companies are selected from 24 varying sectors and domains. Investors in India and worldwide use them to determine how the stock market india is doing.
How does a stock market Index matter for investors and traders?
- To understand how well the investment portfolio is doing, stock market wizards use market indexes as a standard to measure their portfolio performance.
- The index is an underlying for index futures, funds, and options.
- The stock market dance of ascent and descent is calculated based on market indexes.
- If one wants to assess whether the stocks would generate more profit than other assets like gold or debt, a market index can effectively achieve that.
Another counterpart of Nifty, i.e., Sensex, works similarly. Along with Nifty, it is also used as a benchmark for various asset classes, such as mutual funds. Since its inception, Nifty has undergone a series of modifications and refinements to ensure that it remains relevant and well-represented. It has also expanded to sector-specific indices like Nifty Bank, Nifty IT, Pharma, etc.
