Stock Market trading hours unchanged as SEBI rejects extension bid: NSE CEO

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has rejected the proposal to extend the trading hours of the stock market, said Ashishkumar Chauhan, the chief executive of National Stock Exchange (NSE) during a post-earnings call on Monday.

"Currently there is no plan to increase the timings (for trading) as SEBI has returned back the application which we had provided because the stock brokers seemed to have not given the feedback that SEBI wanted," Chauhan said.

The Association of National Exchange Members of India (ANMI), according to a report by CNBC-TV18, had given its in-principle approval to extend trading hours for index futures in February.

Brokers Industry Standards Forum (ISF), which includes ANMI, BSE Brokers Forum (BBF) and Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI), had said it would send a formal letter to SEBI in this regard, the report added.

What NSE had proposed

The NSE, which is one of the country’s prime bourses, had proposed an extension of trading hours for index F&O trading in a phased manner. The first phase would have introduced evening trading session between 6 pm and 9 pm in addition to regular trading hours from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm.

The second phase would have extended index derivatives trading until 11:30 pm, while the third and final phase intended to extend cash market trading hours until 5 pm.

In India, the equity and equity derivatives market close at 3.30 pm. At that time, most of the European equity markets would have just opened for trading while the United States equity markets would be closed.