Bourses to start at 9 am from today

India’s leading stock exchanges — the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange — will kick off trading at 9 am from Monday.

Trading time was extended by the exchange after Sebi allowed them to extend trading from 9 am to 5 pm. However,the exchanges have decided to keep the closing time unchanged at 3.30 pm. The exchanges have gone ahead with the extension despite opposition from small brokers. However,the exchanges have managed to win over big broking houses on the extension issue. A majority of stock brokers want the bourses to continue with the same market timing and see no volume benefit in extending market hours,a survey by the BSE Brokers Forum showed. More than 79 percent of the 418 trading members surveyed felt the current 9:55 a.m to 3:30 p.m trading timing should stay,the survey showed.

Small brokers complain that their back-offices and the banking system have not geared up for extension of trading time. “There are some real operational issues. While the equity markets are quite robust and can handle the extra trading hours,the banking system is not geared up to handle the pressure,” said a dealer.