Understanding the Stock Market Timings in India: There are two major stock exchanges in India to trade in stocks: The Bombay stock exchange (BSE) and the National stock exchange (NSE). The timing of both BSE & NSE for the trading clock is the same.
For a quick answer, the stock market timings in India for normal trading in the equity market is between 9:15 am to 03:30 pm, Monday to Friday, without any lunch or tea break. This means that you can buy or sell your stocks on BSE or NSE at any time between this trading time period.
Further, please also note that the trading timing for the commodity market is different and longer. In addition, this stock market timings in India is also divided into different segments (Opening session, normal session, and closing session) that we’ll discuss in detail in this post. Let’s get started!!
Stock Market Timings in India
First of all, you need to know that the stock market in India works only five days (Monday-Friday) and is closed on weekends i.e. Saturday and Sunday. Further, the markets are also closed on national holidays like Republic Day, Independence Day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc. You can find the list of the holidays of the stock exchange here: NSE India
- The normal trading time for the Equity market is between 09:15 am to 03:30 PM, Monday to Friday.
- The trading time for the commodity (Non-Agri) market (like Gold, Silver, Crude, etc) on MCX and NCDEX exchange is between 10:00 AM to 11:30 PM, Monday to Friday.
- The normal trading time for the commodity (Agri) like Cotton, CPO, SYOREF, etc market is between 10:00 AM to 05:00 PM, Monday to Friday. (Source: McxIndia)
Now, there is continuous trading by the traders and investors in this time period. This means that there is no lunch break or tea break in the Indian stock market timings, unlike banks or other government/private offices.
Different Segments of Stock Market Timings in India
The timings of the Indian stock market are divided into three sessions:
- Normal Session (also called continuous session)
- Pre-opening session
- Post-closing session
Now, let us discuss all these sessions to further understand their importance in the stock market timings in India.
Pre-Opening Session
The duration of the Pre-opening session is between 9:00 AM to 9:15 AM i.e. before the Normal trading session. This is further divided into three sub-sessions.
- 9:00 AM to 9:08 AM:
- This is the order entry session.
- You can place an order to buy and sell stocks in this duration.
- One can also modify or cancel his orders during this period.
- 9:08 AM to 9:12 AM:
- This session is used for order matching and for calculating the opening price of the normal session.
- You cannot modify or cancel the buy/sell order during this time.
- 9:12 AM to 9:15 AM:
- This session is used as a buffer period.
- It is used for the smooth translation of the pre-opening session to the normal session.
The opening price of the normal session is calculated using a multilateral order matching system. Earlier, a bilateral matching system was used which caused a lot of volatility when the market opened. Later, this was changed to a multilateral order matching system to reduce the volatility in the market.
ALSO READ: (How Pre-Opening prices of stocks are calculated here)Anyways, most traders and investors do not use the pre-opening session and only use the normal session for trading. That’s why there is still huge volatility even in the normal session after the pre-opening session.
Normal Trading Session
Basically, this is the trading session or stock market timings that everyone should know.
- The normal trading session is the actual time where most of the trading takes place.
- Its duration is between 9:15 AM to 3:30 PM.
- You can buy and sell stocks in this session.
- The normal trading session follows a bilateral matching session i.e. whenever the buying price is equal to the selling price, the transaction is complete. Here transactions are as per price and time priority.
Closing Session/ Closing Price Calculation Session
The time between 3:30 PM to 3:40 PM is used for closing price calculation.
- The closing price of a stock is the weighted average of the prices between 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM.
- For the indexes like Sensex & nifty, its closing price is the weighted average of the constituent stocks for the last 30 minutes i.e. Between 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM.
Post-Closing Session
Finally comes the 20 minutes session of the post-closing session.
- The duration of the Post-closing session is between 3:40 PM to 4:00 PM.
- You can place orders to buy or sell stocks in the post-closing session at the closing price. If buyers/sellers are available then your trade will be confirmed at the closing price.
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