Market commentary assumes a vocabulary. Here is the part of it you will meet most often.
Prices and levels
- Open, high, low, close - the first, highest, lowest and last traded prices of a session.
- Previous close - the closing price of the prior session, which today’s change is measured against.
- 52-week high / low - the extremes of the past year, used as a reference for where a price sits in its range.
- Circuit limit - the maximum permitted move in a session, beyond which trading is halted.
Activity
- Volume - shares traded.
- Turnover - the rupee value traded.
- Delivery volume - the portion of traded shares actually settled into demat accounts rather than squared off intraday.
- Open interest - the number of outstanding derivative contracts.
Breadth and sentiment
- Advance/decline - how many securities rose versus fell. Broad participation looks different from an index carried by a few large names.
- Market breadth - the general term for that measure.
- Volatility index - a measure derived from option prices, reflecting expected near-term variability.
Valuation
- P/E ratio - price divided by earnings per share.
- Market capitalisation - price multiplied by shares outstanding; the basis for large, mid and small cap classification.
- Dividend yield - dividend per share as a percentage of the price.
- Book value - net assets per share as carried in the accounts.
Educational content. This article explains general concepts. It is not investment advice, does not recommend any security or scheme, and takes no account of your personal circumstances. Investments in securities are subject to market risks.