Indian Share Market Timing – Opening & Closing Trading Hours

The stock market is one of the best methods to invest where you expect to get high returns. But most of the people who just start into stock market investment get confused about Share market timing sometimes either opening or closing time of the stock market.

As the timings of all three markets – Equity, commodity, and currency are different from each other.

Usually, Equity Market opens at 9:15 AM & closes at 3:30 PM & Similarly, Commodity Trading takes place from 9:00 A.M. to 11.30 PM.

Before planning to invest or trade in the stock market, the first thing that you must know is the timings, Holidays of the Exchange or clearing exchange, commodities, and currency market as well the various sessions that take place during a trading day in the market.

So, knowing share market timing in India and your passion and mindset, will not only help you to decide the market in which you can trade based on your time schedule but also will be able to take advantage of each session of the market.

In this Blog, we will majorly talk about the timings of the share, commodities, currency market, all the various sessions conducted in the market, and the market holidays.

Timing of Share Market in India

In India, there are only two utmost primary stock exchanges that exist since the beginning of Indian stock market history, and they are:

• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
• National Stock Exchange (NSE)

Before discussing the stock market timings in India, you need to clarify that the stock market in India Open only 5 days a week (Monday to Friday) and is further closed on Weekends (Saturday and Sundays).

The holidays also include national holidays like Republic Day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc not following any exceptions to this.

Eventually, there are three kinds of sessions for the timings of the Indian stock market listed below:

Pre-Opening Session (9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.)

The Pre-opening meeting has a fixed time from 9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., which is exact before the regular trading sessions. Besides, we have this session divided into a category as follows:

Order Entry Session (9:00 a.m. to 9:08 a.m.)

This is familiarly known as an order entry session wherein you can submit a request to either purchase or sell stocks or both in this period. One can likewise adjust or drop his requests during this period.

Order matching session (9:08 a.m. to 9:12 a.m.)

Next is the session of 9:08 a.m. to 9:12 a.m. which is known as the Order matching session. This time is utilized for request coordinating and for ascertaining or making any adjustments in the initial cost of the regular trading session.

Buffer Period (9:12 a.m. to 9:15 a.m)

Now comes the final sub-session, 9:12 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. slot: This session is called a buffer period and acts as a support period. This period is to interpret the smooth interpretation of the NSE pre-open market session to the normal one.

The calculation of the opening prices of the stocks takes place using the multilateral order matching system. Most people hardly use the pre-opening session, one of the main reasons for volatility in the regular trading session. This session is one of the most crucial sessions in the NSE pre-open market.

Regular Trading Session (9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.)

This is the exact and primary time where almost every trading of stocks occurs. The duration of the trading is always between 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. At this time you can either buy or sell the stocks in this particular session.

The matching practice session followed by a continuous trading session is a bilateral one wherein the selling price equals its purchasing price, making the transaction complete and locked. Transactions are according to the priorities of time and per price factor.

It’s always recommended that you shouldn’t place an order just after market opening. It’s always better that you should wait at least 30 to 40 minutes before trading in the market.

Closing Session (3:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m)

The stock price calculation is in the time slot of 3:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. The weighted average of the prices calculated between this slot is considered the closing price of a stock.

However, for Sensex and Nifty, the weighted average of the stocks for the end of half an hour is sorted as the closing price of a stock.

Post-closing session (3:40 p.m. to 4:00 p.m)

This session is 20 minutes, and the timings for the same are 3:40 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Anyone can place their respective desired orders to either purchase or sell stocks at the weighted average price that is the closing price in these post-closing sessions.

One of the most informative points to remember is that these pre-opening sessions and the post-opening sessions are only for the cash market. No other market – commodity or currency can trade over here as there are no future or options sessions.

Commodity Market Trading Time

The timings of the commodity market are quite different from that of the Equity market. The MCX is the leading commodity exchange where you can trade in commodities.

The commodity market’s timing depends upon the type of commodity you want to trade. We can categorize it into two types:

Currency Market (Forex Market) Timing

The significant exchanges on which currency trading takes place are NSE, BSE, and MCX-SX. You can trade in the currency market from 9.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Likewise, stock and commodity market, the currency market also remains closed every Saturday and Sunday.

There is also another type of trading in the currency market called Cross Currency in which you can trade from 9.00 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. In cross-currency, there is no use of US Dollars in trading of currency pairs. The most used currency in Cross-Currency trading is Euro and Japanese Yen.

Muhurat Trading Timing

As you see, Diwali is present on the holiday list of the stock market. But on Diwali, every year the stock market is opened for traders to make their Diwali brighter for 1 hour in the evening and this trading session is called Muhurat trading.

Muhurat Trading also has a pre-opening and post-closing time like a typical trading day.

However, Muhurat trading’s timing doesn’t remain the same for all the years and changes every year. BSE and NSE stock exchanges announce Muhurt Trading Timing a few days in advance before Diwali.

Muhurat Trading Timing In Equity Market

In 2020, BSE and NSE stock exchanges announced that muhurat trading takes place from 6:15 to 7:15 in the evening. The pre-opening session will be from 6:00 p.m. to 6:08 p.m. and the post-closing session will be from 7:25 p.m. to 7:35 p.m.

Muhurat Trading Timing in Commodity Market

Similar to the Equity market, Muhurat trading also takes place in the commodity market on the day of Diwali. The trading session in 2020 is from 6.15 p.m. to 7.15 p.m., and this time changes every year and is declared by the MCX a few days before Diwali.

Along with the trading session, there is also a special session from 6:00 P.M. to 6:14 P.M. and a Client code modification session from 7:15 to 7:30 P.M.

Muhurat Trading in Currency Market

Like Muhurat trading is done in the commodity and Equity market, it also takes place in the currency market at Diwali’s auspicious festival. The Muhurat trading time in 2020 was from 6.15 p.m. to 7.00 p.m., and for cross-currency trading, it is from 6.15 p.m. to 7.15 p.m. However, this time doesn’t remain constant every year.

IPO Listing Time

All new IPOs are listed at 10.00 a.m. on the stock exchange. Also, before listing an IPO, there is a pre-opening session like before opening the stock market. The timing of this pre-opening session is from 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 a.m.

Likewise, the share market pre-opening session, IPO pre-opening session is also divided into three parts:

• First Session from 9.00 a.m. to 9.45 a.m: During this time, you can place an order. You also have the option to cancel or modify the order at this time. However, you may also note here that this session might stop any time between 9.44 a.m. and 9.45 A.M. and that depends on the system.
• Second Session is from 9.45 a.m. to 9.55 a.m.: In this session, orders are matched to their respective buy or sell orders.
• Third Session from 9.55 a.m. to 10.00 a.m: This is the final session Which is also called a buffer period. which is to facilitate the transition from the pre-opening session to the actual IPO price listing.

After Market Order

It might be possible for some persons where the stock market’s timing doesn’t match their schedule as they might be having their office or have to go to work at that time and cannot buy and sell shares.

So, in this case, you can place an after-market order where you can place a buy and sell order for stocks between the closing and the next day of the market’s opening.

These orders will be set for the next day of the trading session and executed if the price at which you sell or buy matches the price in the next trading section.

However, all the stockbrokers do not provide the benefit of placing an after-market order, and also the timing of after-market order varies from broker to broker.

So, it would be best if you kept a note of it before choosing a stockbroker where you will be mostly placing the after-market orders.

Stock Market Holiday

After knowing about the details of the stock market’s timings, you must know which festivals and public holidays, the stock market remains closed.

So, the Following is the list of official trading holidays:

1. Maha Shivaratri
2. Holi
3. Ram Navami
4. Mahavir Jayanti
5. Good Friday
6. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti
7. Maharashtra Day
8. Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramzan Id)
9. Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti
10. Diwali
11. Guru Nanak Jayanti
12. Christmas

Here, we are only taking the festival name which is also the national holidays. Every year dates may differ occasions will occur every year. The stock market usually remains closed on these days.

If you want to know the latest stock market holiday you can read check out our calendar for stock market holiday.

Conclusion

You can keep in mind that you can sell your stock or position a few minutes before the market closes to avoid the square off charges that your stockbroker might impose on you for selling your position.

However, the different stockbroker has different square off charges and timings in which you have to sell your position before the market closes.

One important thing that a beginner must keep in mind is avoiding investing in the first 15 to 30 minutes of opening the market and the pre-opening session because the market is quite volatile.

A beginner might not well versed with the direction of a stock, currency, or commodity and might lose some money.

FAQ about Share Market Timing

There are certain questions that people asked about share market timings in India. If you really want to know about the timings of the share market in India then go through the following questions.

The topic of various timing, holidays, and sessions in the stock, currency, and commodity market might appear to be very small.

It is a very vast and important topic that every trader and investor must know to fully take advantage of every time or session they get into a particular market.

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