Share market basics
BSE's benchmark index of 30 large, well-established companies, the oldest widely followed stock market indicator in India.
Sensex, short for Sensitive Index, is the Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark of 30 large and financially sound companies, weighted by free-float market capitalisation. Started in 1986 with a base value of 100 for 1978-79, it is the index most Indians hear on the news. Its constituents overlap heavily with Nifty 50, so the two indices move together almost all the time; Sensex simply has fewer stocks and a larger number. A level of 80,000 on Sensex and 24,000 on Nifty describe the same market. You can invest in Sensex through index funds and ETFs, and BSE offers Sensex futures and options, which have grown in volume in recent years. For a beginner, the useful habit is to watch the percentage change rather than the point change: a 400-point fall on Sensex at 80,000 is only half a percent.
VideoA share is a portion of a company. The share market is where those portions change hands. Here is how it works, what you can trade in it, and why most people who trade actively lose money.
VideoThe share market runs on two activities that look alike and are nothing alike. Investing is owning a business for years. Trading is profiting from price moves over hours or weeks. Mixing them up is behind most early losses.
VideoTrading comes in a few distinct forms, and the one you pick decides how much time, capital and stress it takes. This lesson explains intraday, swing, positional, futures and options trading with Indian examples.
