BSE advances opening bell; bigger extension for NSE?

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Tuesday announced it was extending trading time by seven minutes. The BSE stock market would, from December 18 (Friday) onward, open at 9.45 am instead of 9.52 am.

The closing time would, however, remain the same at 3.30 pm, the BSE said.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently allowed stock exchanges in India to extend their trading hours and allowed a maximum possible window of trading between 9am and 5pm.

The SEBI move was prompted by a long-standing demand by the stock exchanges for allowing extension of trading hours to capture more trading from international investors, especially from Asian countries like Singapore where exchanges open much early, Indian time.

However, soon after the regulator gave stock exchanges the go-ahead, opinion in the stock market fraternity was vertically divided with several brokers and brokerages saying lack of infrastructure could prove a hindrance to extend market hours to the full window of 9am to 5pm.

Market experts said the latest move by BSE would not have a major impact on the markets. "There would have been a major impact in case it was preponed by, say, half an hour or 45 minutes. But a 10-minute pre-ponement will not have too much of an impact," Ambareesh Baliga of Karvy Stock Broking said.

F&O expiry advanced

The BSE also said futures and options (F&O) expiry would be advanced to two Thursdays prior to the last Thursday of the month. Currently, F&O expiry takes place on the last Thursday of the month.

The block deal period though remains unchanged: between 9:55 am to 10:30 am.

NSE to follow with bigger extension?

Sources say BSE's rival, the National Stock Exchange (NSE), may go beyond 10 minutes extension of trade timing and may extend trading by 30–60 minutes.

The NSE top brass would meet members of the exchange on Wednesday to take stock of the situation and decide on its course of action, it is learnt.

If the NSE responds with a bigger extension, the BSE would again sure respond. The BSE decision could thus spiral into something bigger than the 10-minute extension that has currently been implemented.

Source : Moneycontrol.com