Bearer Security
This is a bond or a share for which there is no other proof of ownership than the physical possession of the security. No official record or register of ownership is kept, the owner is the "bearer" of the share or bond certificate. This means that these certificates are easily traded without formality. If you own bearer securities, look after them! No dividend is paid to such shares and no interest paid to such bonds. Instead the certificate will have several coupons attached. These must be physically removed from the certificate and presented to the originating company for payment of any dividend or interest to be made.

Bears
These stockmarket animals are pessimists, they expect share prices or any other type of investment to fall. In a 'bear market' the general sentiment is that prices are going to go lower and majority of dealers will sell as quickly as possible for fear of holding shares which diminish in value.Bears, like 'bulls' drive the market.

Basis Point (BP)
The smallest measure used in quoting yields on fixed income securities. One basis point is one percent of one percent, or 0.01%.

Bear Market
A prolonged period of falling securities prices in a stock market.

Bond
A debt security, or an IOU, issued by a company or government agency is called a bond. A bond investor lends money to the issuer and, in exchange, the issuer promises to repay the loan amount on a specified maturity date; the issuer usually pays the bondholder periodic interest payments over the period of the loan.

Carrying forward of transaction form one settlement period to the next without effecting delivery or payment. Badla involves carrying forward of a transaction from one settlement period to the next. The carry-forward is done at the making up price, which is usually the closing price of the last day of settlement.

A badla transaction attracts the following payments / charges :

(a) ‘margin money’ specified by the stock exchange board; and

(b) contango or badla charges (interest charges) determined on the basis of demand and supply forces.

Transaction between two members of the exchange. The terms "dealings" and "contracts" also have identical meanings.

Blue Chips are shares of large, well established and financially sound companies with an impressive records of earnings and dividends. Generally, Blue Chip shares provide low to moderate current yield and moderate to high capital gains yield. The price volatility of such shares is moderate.

A free allotment of shares made in proportion to existing shares out of accumulated reserves. A bonus share does not constitute additional wealth to shareholders. It merely signifies recapitalization of reserves into equity capital. However, the expectation of bonus shares has a bullish impact on market sentiment and causes share prices to go up.

Dates between which a company keeps its register of members closed for updating prior to payment of dividends or issue of new shares or debentures.

A bull is one who expects a rise in price so that he can later sell at a higher price.

A rising market with abundance of buyers and few sellers.

This is the price of a security at the beginning of the trading day which is used to determine the Day Minimum/Maximum and the Operational ranges for that day.

The trading member who has placed the order for the purchase of the securities

Bid is the price at which the market maker buys from the investor and offer is the price at which he offers to sell the stock to the investor. The offer is higher than the bid.

Brokerage is the commission charged by the broker. The maximum brokerage chargeable is determined by SEBI.

Basket trading is a facility by which investors are in a position to buy/sell all 30 scrips of Sensex in the proportion of current weights in the Sensex, in one go.

It is a standard measure of risk for an individual stock. It is the sensitivity of the movement of the past share price of a stock to the movement of the market as a whole. The beta of the market is taken as 1. A benchmark index (the Sensex, for instance) is taken as the proxy for the market.

Stocks with betas greater than 1 tend to amplify the movement of the market. If a stock has a beta of 1.20, it means that if the market has moved by 1%, the stock price would have moved by an extra 1.2%.

This is the highest price at which an investor is willing to buy a stock . Practically speaking, this is the available price at which an investor can sell shares.

Buy limit order
An order of buying a security with a condition that order will not be executed above the specific mentioned price.

Buy on close
An order of buying a stock, but only at the end of the trading day. Security will be bought in the closing price range.

Breakout
When the price of a stock surpasses its initial high (resistance level) or falls below the initial low (support level), it is termed as break out in technical analysis.

Book runner
Institution that arranges and manages the book building process for the new public issue.

Beneficial owner
The actual owner of the security, irrespective of who is holding the security.

Best ask
The lowest price at which a stock is quoted to be sold.

Best bid
The highest price quoted for a particular stock to be bought.

Bid/Ask spread
The difference between the ask price and bid price.

Bourse

The floor of a Stock Exchange.