BSE shares to start trading on the Nifty 50 today; MTF positions above ₹3,000 crore

Shares of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Ltd. will begin trading on the Nifty 50 index from Wednesday, September 30, as part of the bi-annual index rebalancing exercise. This will be the first time in nearly a decade of the exchange going public, that it will become a part of the country's benchmark index.

BSE shares will be replacing technology services provider Wipro, who will be excluded from the Nifty 50 for the first time since the inception of the index, and will now trade on the Nifty Next 50 index. Wipro shares are trading at 52-week lows.

The Nifty indices rebalancing exercise took place on Tuesday, during the monthly expiry session, where shares of BSE ended with gains of 3%. Analysts at IIFL Alt Desk had pegged potential inflows to the tune of $595 million for BSE as part of its Nifty inclusion, while Wipro's exclusion was likely to see outflows worth over $152 million. Wipro shares ended at the day's low on Tuesday.

Ahead of BSE's inclusion on the Nifty 50, the leveraged positions on the index continue to remain constant. Based on the data available on the NSE's MTF book, the total leveraged positions on BSE, as of September 28, stood at ₹3,155 crore, which is nearly the same as the ₹3,215 crore figure on August 31.

BSE shares have the second-highest exposure on the MTF book, with only a ₹60 crore difference separating the stock from HDFC Bank, which occupies the top spot on the MTF book, with a ₹3,213 crore exposure.

Brokerage firm Macquarie had initiated coverage on BSE on September 24 with an "outperform" rating and a price target of ₹4,000, calling it "The Challenger" in comparison to NSE's "The Dominator".

Macquarie wrote in its note that BSE's pivot to index options had made it a credible competitor to the NSE, and that its platform expansion and market share gains create revenue and margin optionality, thereby supporting strong cash generation.

The brokerage is positive on the exchange considering its earnings growth, margin expansion and platform optionality.

Shares of BSE ended 3.3% higher on Tuesday at ₹3,200. The index saw a turnover of over ₹9,578 crore on Tuesday, courtesy of the index rebalancing exercise. It was the most traded Nifty 500 stock on Tuesday. It was also the stock with the highest turnover during the Closing Auction Session, with a turnover of ₹6,247 crore.