Indian Stock Exchange Members Reject Extended Trading Hours

Strong opposition from members forced India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) to reconsider plans to increase trade timings. Last month, the Security and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) approved adding an additional two-and-a-half hours of trading time, making the NSE open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, members complained about the additional strain this would place on middle office work such as their cashier management system.

The new hours would have helped the NSE integrate with markets in Asia such as Singapore as well as European markets. But an official with the Association of National Stock Exchange Members of India (Anmi) said that domestic markets did not have the sophistication to extend their hours, citing the strain on clearing and settlement systems such as cost basis reporting.

Specifically, the Business Standard said that the extended hours would “put pressure on infrastructure of exchanges as well as market intermediaries and broking companies may have to incur additional costs” by forcing them to stay open later to handle items such as the collateral management system requirements of their clients.