Brokerages may not be ready for extended trading hours by SEBI

There is great conflict between brokrages firm for implimentation of extended trading hour.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed the stock exchanges to extend trading hours of equity markets. With the green signal, stock exchanges are now allowed to start trading at 9am and close the bell at 5pm. Currently, India’s exchanges operate between 9.55 am and 3.30 pm.

Experts say the move is aimed at aligning Indian stock markets with international ones in a bid to woo more trades and also counter the emerging Singapore Exchange Limited’s (SGX) Nifty, which opens sooner (7am India time) than the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) Nifty. Trading

volumes may go by about 10–15% as a consequence of the extended hours, he adds. “Another plus point I can see is that volatility may come down,” says Portfolio Manager PN Vijay, though he adds that such long hours were not justified and that exchanges should consider working from 9am to 4pm.

However, Thakkar of Angel Broking disagrees. “The cost escalation would be offset because of additional revenue stream that we will get,” he says.

“People will get used to it,” says Jain of India Infoline. “The way technology is progressing, maybe next few years time we may see 24/7 market. In the US, you don’t have to go through exchanges because certain markets are beyond exchanges too. I think things will move in that direction and brokers and all of us will get used to it and we will need to adapt our systems and infrastructure to that.”