Stock Exchanges Suggest Extending Trading hours till 7.30pm

Leading stock exchanges are considering a plan to extend its trading timing by 2 to 5 hours so as to better align Indian markets at par with global trends and boost business. At present, trading commences on the Exchanges at 9.00 am and closes at 3.30 pm, with 15 minutes each of pre open sessions and post closing hours.

There is further a proposal to align the timings of equity market in line with commodity derivatives which are being traded till late evening hours. The different proposals on the table include extending trade hours till 5.00 pm, 5.30 pm and 7.30 pm.

In the very past, the exchanges had recommended to extend the timings, but the recommendations have always met with a strong opposition from brokers. Brokers concern is that they would have to call employees in two different shifts for over 10 hours trading period and all their customers would have to be assigned no less than two relationship managers.

Domestic Benchmarks Plunging Down, Midcap Sectors Trading Up

After the government confirmed that in response of Pakistan terrorist activities surgical strike by Indian soldiers, investors panicked and took to seeling plunging equity benchmarks to drop more than 1.5 percent intraday. Domestic equity benchmarks opened flat on Friday morning. Sensex dropped 43 points or 1.06 percent to 27783 and Nifty dropped 8 points or 0.10 percent to 8535. Midcap and Small cap indices are trading with positive leads in the struggling market. BSE Small Cap has hiked 170 points to 12684, BSE Midcap gains 164 points to 13078 and Nifty Midcap hiked 185 points to 15284. Yet, 1613 shares have been advanced, 584 shares have been declined and 137 shares are unchanged.

Asian Market Updates: Global indices are trading down. Nikkei is trading 215 points down to 16478, Hang seng is 314 points down to 23425 and Shanghai Composite is 4 points up at 3003.