BSE set to trade ex-bonus today; shares surge 30% in 2025

Shares of BSE Ltd. will be in focus during Friday's trading session as the stock turns ex-bonus today. This means the bonus shares issued to shareholders will now be reflected in trading.

The board of BSE Ltd. had recommended the issue of two free shares for every one share held by its shareholders as on the record date.

This is the second instance since the company's listing back in 2017 that the board considered a bonus issue of shares.

Asia's oldest stock exchange had earlier issued two bonus shares to shareholders for every one share that they held (2:1) back in 2022.

The companies issue bonus shares to capitalise on their free reserves, increase their Earnings Per Share (EPS) and paid-up capital, along with reducing the reserves. Shareholders are issued these shares at no additional cost and hence are also known as free shares.

Only those investors will be eligible for bonus shares who will buy the stock before the ex-date. If an investor purchases the shares on the ex-date or after that, they will not be eligible to get bonus shares.

Since its listing, BSE paid dividends worth over ₹170 per share, and also carried out buybacks of its equity shares, once in 2019 and the other in 2023.

SEBI mulls Tuesday expiry for NSE contracts

The BSE stock fell 4% on Thursday following reports that SEBI is considering NSE’s proposal for Tuesday as the new expiry day. Sources told CNBC-TV18 that a SEBI circular on index expiry schedules may be issued soon, with NSE likely seeking Tuesday as its expiry day.

Global brokerage firm Goldman Sachs has a 'Neutral' rating on BSE, with a price target of ₹5,340.

According to reports, SEBI may approve Tuesday as the new expiry day for NSE derivatives.

Citing a consultation paper and SEBI's comments, Goldman Sachs mentioned that if Tuesday is designated as the expiry day for NSE index derivatives, BSE index derivatives would likely shift to Thursday.

The brokerage estimates that, based on year-to-date (YTD) trends, this change, if approved, could lead to a 3-4 percentage point (or approximately 15%) decline in BSE’s market share of index options premiums, reducing it to 18.8% from 22.2%.

Goldman Sachs also said that 24% of index options premiums in India have been traded on Tuesdays YTD, higher than the 16-19% recorded on other weekdays.

In an earlier interaction with CNBC-TV18, BSE MD and CEO Sundararaman Ramamurthy had said: "We will not run behind derivative market share. However, there should be a spread between 2 expiries."

"No probability can ever be ruled out; however, ascribing a high or low percentage to it is very difficult at this point," the BSE MD and CEO said when asked about whether BSE will shift its options expiry date in response to NSE's move.

Shares of BSE Ltd. ended 3.97% lower on Thursday at ₹7,015. The stock has climbed nearly 305 so far in 2025.