What is an index?
An index is one number that summarises how a group of shares moved. If most shares in the group rise, the index rises. It lets you see the market's direction without checking hundreds of prices.
Today's values
The main NEPSE indices
- NEPSE index: the headline index, covering listed companies, weighted by their size.
- Sensitive index: a narrower index that follows a smaller set of larger, more established companies.
- Float index: like the NEPSE index, but it counts only shares that are actually available to the public (the free float).
- Sensitive float index: the sensitive group, measured on free-float shares.
The exact methods are set by NEPSE, so check its documents for the current definitions.
How to use the index
- Judge the market's mood. A rising index with many advancing stocks is a broad rally.
- Compare your results. If your portfolio fell 2% while the index rose 3%, ask why.
- Spot narrow moves. Sometimes only a few big shares move the index.
Index versus your shares
An index is an average. Your shares can do better or worse than it, and you cannot buy "the index" directly the way you buy a share. Follow the market on our NEPSE index today page, and see which shares moved most on the top gainers and top losers pages.
For education only. Not investment advice.