Sensex, Nifty, NSE, BSE

The Sensex is an indicator of all the major companies of the BSE. 

The Nifty is an indicator of all the major companies of the NSE. 

If the Sensex goes up, it means that the prices of the stocks of most of the major companies on the BSE have gone up. If the Sensex goes down, this tells you that the stock price of most of the major stocks on the BSE have gone down. 

Just like the Sensex represents the top stocks of the BSE, the Nifty represents the top stocks of the NSE. 

Just in case you are confused, the BSE, is the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE is the National Stock Exchange. The BSE is situated at Bombay and the NSE is situated at Delhi. These are the major stock exchanges in the country. There are other stock exchanges like the Calcutta Stock Exchange etc. but they are not as popular as the BSE and the NSE.Most of the stock trading in the country is done though the BSE & the NSE. 

Besides Sensex and the Nifty there are many other indexes. There is an index that gives you an idea about whether the mid-cap stocks go up and down. This is called the “BSE Mid-cap Index”. There are many other types of indexes.

The Sensex has a very important function. The Sensex is supposed to be an indicator of the stocks in the BSE. It is supposed to show whether the stocks are generally going up, or generally going down. 

To show this accurately, the Sensex is calculated taking into consideration stock prices of 30 different BSE listed companies. It is calculated using the “free-float market capitalization” method. This is a world wide accepted method as one of the best methods for calculating a stock market index. 

Please note: The method used for calculating the Sensex and the 30 companies that are taken into consideration are changed from time to time. This is done to make the Sensex an accurate index and so that it represents the BSE stocks properly. 

To really understand how the Sensex is calculated, you simply need to understand what the term “free-float market capitalization” means. (As we said earlier, the Sensex is calculated on basis of the “free-float market capitalization” method) But, before we understand what “free-float market capitalization” means, you first need to understand what “market capitalization” means.