Market trading hours not to be extended. Sebi nixes NSE's proposal for now

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has turned down National Stock Exchange's (NSE) proposal to extend market trading timings in the derivatives segment due to a lack of consensus among the broker community.

"Currently there is no plan to increase the timings (for trading) as SEBI has returned back the application which we had provided because the stock brokers seemed to have not given the feedback that SEBI wanted," NSE chief executive Ashishkumar Chauhan said during a post earnings call.

The NSE had urged Sebi to keep the derivatives market open for three extra hours between 6 pm and 9 pm to help market participants gauge global activity.

It was reportedly planned with an extension for index F&O from 6 pm to 9 pm, then till 11.30 pm in the second phase and a third phase, where cash market hours could be extended until 5 pm.

An extension, a segment felt would help in hedging any negative news flow from global markets. Indian markets close at 3:30 pm, European market is up during the time and the US market opens around 7 pm India time.

NSE recently saw its net profit for the quarter ended March 31, 2024 rise 20 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,478 crore amid continued buoyancy in the equity markets. The exchange’s revenue grew at an even faster clip of 34 per cent to Rs 4,625 crore.
For the full-year 2023-24 (FY24), NSE’s profits rose 13 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 8,306 crore, while revenues rose 25 per cent to Rs 14,780 crore.

The NSE Board has recommended a dividend of ₹90 per share (pre-bonus) for the year ending FY24 amounting to pay-out of ₹4,455 crores.