Sensex Today: What the Live BSE Sensex Index Tells Indian Traders
Sensex today is the live price of the BSE Sensex, the 30-stock benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and India's oldest equity index. The Sensex value changes every second during the trading session (9:15 am to 3:30 pm IST) as the prices of its 30 large-cap constituents move. The index uses free-float market capitalisation weighting, so a 1% move in the largest constituent has a bigger effect on the index value than a 1% move in the smallest.
What is the BSE Sensex?
The BSE Sensex is the 30-stock benchmark equity index of the Bombay Stock Exchange. It was launched in 1986 with a base value of 100 and a base date of 1 April 1979. The Sensex is managed by Asia Index Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of BSE.
The 30 Sensex constituents are large, liquid Indian companies drawn from sectors that reflect the broader Indian economy. The list is reviewed every six months in June and December and adjusted as required.
What "Sensex today" means
Sensex today is the live value of the index at any moment during the trading session. The value updates every second based on the latest traded prices of the 30 constituent stocks. Three reference points are commonly quoted: the previous day's close, the day's open, and the latest tick.
The day's move is the difference between the latest tick and the previous close. A positive number is a gain, a negative number is a loss. The percentage change is also widely quoted.
How the Sensex value is calculated
The Sensex uses the free-float market capitalisation method. The formula has three parts.
- Free-float market capitalisation: Total share count of a stock, minus shares held by promoters and the government, multiplied by the current price.
- Sum across all 30 stocks: The free-float market caps of the 30 constituents are added together.
- Divisor adjustment: The sum is divided by a fixed divisor (set so that the index value matches the base period). The divisor is adjusted for corporate actions like bonus issues and stock splits so the index level remains continuous.
Where to track Sensex today live
Four official sources publish Sensex today live.
- BSE India website: The Bombay Stock Exchange publishes the live Sensex value and a real-time advancer-decliner chart on its home page.
- Google Finance: The INDEXBOM: SENSEX page shows the live value during BSE trading hours.
- Broker terminals: Every SEBI-registered broker shows the live Sensex tick to logged-in users.
- Financial data aggregators: Moneycontrol, Trendlyne, and similar portals republish the live BSE data feed.
Sensex vs Nifty 50: how they differ
| Feature | BSE Sensex | Nifty 50 |
|---|---|---|
| Exchange | Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) | National Stock Exchange (NSE) |
| Stocks in the index | 30 | 50 |
| Base year | 1979 (value 100) | 1995 (value 1,000) |
| Calculation method | Free-float market capitalisation | Free-float market capitalisation |
| Derivatives weekly expiry | Every Thursday | Every Tuesday (from 2 September 2025) |
Sensex trading hours and circuit breakers
BSE equity trading runs from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm IST every working day. A pre-open call auction runs from 9:00 am to 9:15 am. After-market orders can be placed between 3:45 pm and 8:57 am.
The Sensex is subject to market-wide circuit breakers set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). A 10% move in either direction triggers a 45-minute halt before 1:00 pm. A 15% move triggers a 1-hour 45-minute halt before 1:00 pm. A 20% move halts trading for the rest of the day. The trigger levels are recalculated quarterly based on the previous day's close.
Sensex options and futures
Sensex futures and options trade on the BSE derivatives segment. The Sensex weekly options contract expires every Thursday. The monthly contract expires on the last Thursday of the month. Sensex is the only BSE index with a weekly options series after the November 2024 SEBI direction limiting weekly options to one benchmark index per exchange.