BSE Sensex Index — Level, Chart & Constituents

What the BSE Sensex measures

The BSE Sensex (symbol: SENSEX) is a stock market index that tracks a selection of leading companies listed on the BSE, India's major stock exchange. It is one of the most widely followed benchmarks for Indian equities and is often used as a shorthand for how the Indian stock market is performing overall. As an Asia-Pacific index, it sits alongside other regional benchmarks such as the Nifty 50, the Nikkei 225, and the Hang Seng Index. For readers comparing markets around the world, the Indices directory lists other major benchmarks, including the S&P/ASX 200 and the Shanghai SSE Composite.

Key numbers explained

An index level is simply a number that reflects the combined value of the companies the index tracks. Movements up or down are read as percentage changes, not as a price of a single share. Here are the most informative current figures:

• Current level: 74,828.25 points, quoted in Indian rupees (INR). This is the reference value of the index at the moment shown.
• Today's change: +0.4%, meaning the index is trading modestly higher than its previous close.
• Today's range: 74,599.88 – 74,973.74, the lowest and highest points reached during the session. A narrow range suggests relatively calm trading.
• 52-week low: 71,545.81, the lowest level recorded over the past year.
• 52-week high: 86,159.02, the highest level recorded over the past year. Comparing the current level with this range shows where the index sits within its yearly trading band.

For a beginner, the key habit is to read the index in percentage terms: a move of +0.4% is small, while the distance between the 52-week low and high shows how much the index has fluctuated over a full year.

Recent news

Recent headlines highlight activity in Indian markets: Indian bank stocks are showing the widest exchange price gap in decades, and India priced a record $10 billion of equity deals in August, described as a record month. Separately, a JPMorgan Chase unit has been banned from Indian markets over alleged trading violations, while Nasdaq futures rose as tech stocks followed Asia's lead.

What to watch

Like any broad stock market index, the BSE Sensex is influenced by general factors rather than any single event. These typically include the earnings and health of the companies it tracks, currency movements affecting the rupee, domestic and global interest-rate conditions, foreign investment flows into Indian equities, and broader sentiment across Asia-Pacific markets. News affecting specific sectors — such as the banking headlines noted above — can also shape how the index moves from session to session.