NSE joins Twitter bandwagon

The National Stock Exchange has joined the fast-growing 'Twitterati' club, and to start with the bourse has begun posting live quotes of its benchmark index Nifty on the micro-blogging website Twitter.

With this, NSE has become the first Indian bourse -- and so far the only one -- to have a presence on Twitter, which has become a favoured short-messaging social networking website and can be accessed through mobile phone and internet.

Outside India, exchanges and indices having established their presence on Twitter include Nasdaq of the US and London Stock Exchange's FTSE.

NSE currently posts quotes of its Nifty index, including the current level as also the highs and lows, every 10 minutes during the market hours and plans to expand its presence to other information for investors over the time. In just about a week of its launch, the NSE has already registered about 1,600 followers for its 'tweet' messages, which are capped at a maximum of 140 characters per post.

So far, about 500 tweets have been posted on the exchange's page on the Twitter. An exchange official said that the NSE has distinguished itself from other bourses with its presence on Twitter.

The exchange aims to add some more indices and tools on the social networking site on coming period.

"To start with, it's a live ticker of Nifty only, but it will change over the time. Through Twitter, an investor can be in touch with the market," the official said.

With Twitter, the investors can reach the NSE with their mobiles only and need not log onto internet through computers.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables a user to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters. A user can send and receive tweets through the Twitter website or short message service on mobile phone.

NSE's rival Bombay Stock Exchange, the oldest bourse in Asia, is yet to join Twitter, but recently launched a redesigned version of its website.