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Nifty index rotation: which sectors and themes are leading, lagging or turning
Thirty-five Nifty indices (sectors, themes, size segments and factor strategies) measured against Nifty 500 and sorted into four groups: Leaders, Losing momentum, Laggards and Gaining momentum. Updated after every trading day, with a check on whether equities as a whole are beating a liquid ETF.
NSE is the National Stock Exchange of India. Relative strength (RS) is an index’s price divided by the benchmark’s price; it rises when the index does better than the benchmark. G-Sec is a Government of India security (bond).
What the data shows
Equity against a liquid ETF
The groups above are relative: a Leader can still be falling, just by less than Nifty 500. This panel asks the absolute question: has the equity market as a whole earned more than parking money in a liquid ETF?
The liquid benchmark is the Nifty 1D Rate Index, which tracks overnight lending rates. Liquid ETFs such as LIQUIDCASE (Zerodha Nifty 1D Rate Liquid ETF) are built to track it, before their costs. It rises a little every day and almost never falls.
Rotation timeline
Each row is one index; each square is its group in one week, oldest on the left and the latest on the right. Read across a row to see where an index has come from: a run of blue turning green is an index moving from Gaining momentum into Leaders; green turning amber and then red is a lead fading.
The outlined square is the latest reading. Tap an index name anywhere on the page to open its charts below; on a computer, hover over a square to see that reading’s scores.
The four groups
Moved since last week
Returns and risk flags
Returns are price returns over trading days (1 week = 5, 1 month = 21, 3 months = 63, 6 months = 126, 1 year = 252). “3 months vs benchmark” is the index’s 3-month return relative to the benchmark. “1 year vs liquid ETF” is the index’s 1-year return minus the liquid ETF benchmark’s. Distance from the 52-week high is shaded amber at 10% or more below (a correction) and red at 20% or more (a bear market).
| Index | Type | Group | 1 week | 1 month | 3 months | 6 months | 1 year | 3 months vs benchmark | From 52-week high | Vs 200-day average | 1 year vs liquid ETF |
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Index detail
Price and 200-day average, last 2 years
Relative strength vs Nifty 500 (1 year ago = 100)
Index rotation: common questions
What do the four groups mean?
- Leaders: doing better than the benchmark, and the lead is still widening.
- Losing momentum: still ahead of the benchmark, but the lead is shrinking.
- Laggards: doing worse than the benchmark, and falling further behind.
- Gaining momentum: still behind the benchmark, but closing the gap.
Indices often move through the groups in the order Gaining momentum → Leaders → Losing momentum → Laggards, but not always: an index can jump straight from Gaining momentum back to Laggards.
How are the trend and momentum scores calculated?
First we divide the index by the benchmark to get its relative strength line. The trend score is that line divided by its own 10-week average (50-day average in the daily view), times 100. Above 100 means the index is doing better than the benchmark compared with its recent normal.
The momentum score is the trend score today divided by the trend score 4 weeks earlier (10 trading days in the daily view), times 100. Above 100 means the trend score is rising.
The method is in the spirit of the relative rotation charts used by professional analysts, built from published index closes. It is our own calculation.
Weekly or daily: which view should I use?
The weekly view is the main one. It filters out day-to-day noise and shows rotations that play out over weeks to months; the timeline covers the last 12 weeks. The daily view reacts faster and covers the last 20 trading days, so it shows turns earlier but also produces more false starts. A move that shows up in both views is more established than one that appears only in the daily view.
Why Nifty 500 as the default benchmark?
Nifty 500 covers over 90% of the free-float market value of NSE-listed companies, so it is the closest single measure of “the market”. Comparing a midcap or sector index with Nifty 50 mixes two questions (sector and company size). Switch to Nifty 50 if you want to see what is doing better than the large-cap benchmark most funds track.
If an index is a Leader, is it going up?
Not necessarily. Leader means stronger than the benchmark. In a falling market, a Leader can be falling, just less than Nifty 500. That is why the page also shows each index’s absolute returns, its distance from its 52-week high and its position against its 200-day average, plus the equity-against-cash-and-debt panel.
What does the equity against a liquid ETF panel show?
Three absolute checks on Nifty 500: whether it is above or below its 200-day average (a common long-term trend line), and whether its 6-month and 12-month returns are higher than the liquid ETF benchmark’s over the same period. It also counts how many of the 35 indices are 10%, 15% and 20% below their 52-week high, and how many have beaten the liquid benchmark over a year.
Comparing equity returns with a cash-like return over 6 to 12 months is known in research as absolute or “dual” momentum. In published research on global markets, this check has tended to flag long bear markets, but it also gives false alarms in sharp falls that recover quickly, and it is slow to turn after a bottom. It describes the past, not the future.
Why compare with a liquid ETF and not a bond index?
A liquid ETF holds overnight lending, so its value rises a little every day and almost never falls. That makes it a clean “what if the money had sat in cash” yardstick.
Longer bonds are different. Their prices fall when interest rates rise, and over a year that can wipe out the interest they earn. The Nifty 10 Year Benchmark G-Sec (Government Security) index, which includes interest, returned about −0.3% in the 12 months to 22 Oct 2026, while the liquid benchmark returned about +5.4%. For the same reason, “a debt index near its 52-week high” is not a useful test: interest-earning indices sit near their highs most of the time.
Why show 10%, 15% and 20% falls from the 52-week high?
Indices are diversified, so they fall less than single stocks. A 10% fall from a high is the usual definition of a correction, and 20% of a bear market. Counting all three levels shows how widespread the damage is: when most indices are 10% or more below their highs, weakness is broad rather than confined to a few sectors.
Which indices are included and why?
Size: Nifty 50, Next 50, Midcap 150, Smallcap 250, Microcap 250 (and Nifty 500 when the benchmark is Nifty 50). Sectors: Bank, PSU (public sector undertaking) Bank, Financial Services ex-Bank, IT (information technology), Auto, Pharma, FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), Metal, Realty, Media, Consumer Durables, Chemicals, Capital Goods, Energy. Themes: CPSE (central public sector enterprises), Infrastructure, India Defence, Capital Markets, India Manufacturing, India Consumption, Commodities, MNC (multinational companies), India Tourism, EV (electric vehicle) and New Age Automotive, India Digital. Strategy: Nifty200 Momentum 30, Nifty200 Quality 30, Nifty100 Low Volatility 30, Nifty Alpha 50, Nifty500 Value 50.
Near-duplicates are left out (for example Nifty Private Bank, which moves almost exactly with Nifty Bank, and Nifty Oil & Gas, which overlaps heavily with Nifty Energy).
Where does the data come from and when is it updated?
Daily closing values published by NSE Indices (niftyindices.com). The page updates once each trading day after the close. Data can be delayed or contain errors.
Is this investment advice?
No. The page describes how indices have performed against each other and against cash and bonds. It does not recommend buying, selling or switching any security, fund or asset class.