Share Market Timings (NSE, BSE & MCX) In India

Why do you need to know about Share Market Timings?

Are you planning to invest in Indian stock markets? If your answer is in affirmative, then you should know a few basics of stock market trading before you leap in, and more importantly share market timings.

The world of the share market is no less than a fantasy land that you venture into. It is all about the right timing, stock market timings to be precise.

You ought to be there at the right time of buying/selling, be at the helm of selecting the right stocks and more importantly, at the right stock market timings.

The share market is volatile and can change with a blink of an eye.

So, you need to be watchful to hedge yourself from any monetary of the financial debacle. 

Amazing Facts about Share Market Timings

So, first thing first, you should know when to start and when to end, i.e. your equity trading window. We will further delve into the stock market timings India below.

First of all, you need to note that NSE timings and BSE timings are the same. The share market timings that we will discuss here are applicable to both stock exchanges of India.

In a layman’s word, Share Market or Stock Market operates Monday through Friday, from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm.

This window is specific to equity trading. There are other kinds of trading and stock market timings that we will discuss below in a bit.

Saturday and Sunday are holidays for the stock market. You also need to check out the other holidays, like public holidays when the stock market is closed.

A stock exchange whizz-kid in India would know that share market timing BSE is no different from the NSE market timings, for equity trading, the opening time is 9:15 am and closing time (NSE closing time) is 3:30 pm, Monday through Friday.

The stock market is closed during weekends, i.e. Saturday & Sunday.

If you are into the commodity market (MCX) trading, then the MCX timing is from 10:00 am to 11:30 pm, Monday to Friday.

For Agri-community (NCDEX) market, the operational window is between 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. The trading does not stop anytime in between.

There is no break time for stock market trading.

There are primarily 3 sessions for equity trading. These are the market timings NSE/BSE when equity trading takes place.

These sessions include:

• Normal trading session or continuous session
• Pre-opening sessions
• Post-closing sessions

1. Normal Trading Sessions

Stock market opening time India is 9:15 am. This is the same as the NSE opening time as well as BSE opening time.

This session runs between 9:15 am to 3:30 pm. This is when you order to buy and/or sell shares.

This trading session makes use of bilateral matching. This means whenever buying and selling prices are equal, the transaction is complete.

The transactions are guided by price and time priority.

The session before the stock market clock strikes 9:15, i.e. 9:00 am to 9:15 am, is further divided into 3 sub-sessions. These include:

Also Read: Top 10 Best Stock Market Books For Beginners In India

2. Pre-open session:

Share Market Timings: 9:00 am to 9:08 am

Order entry or modification transactions begin at 9:00 am and closes at 9:08 am. This is called an order entry session wherein you can order to buy or sell stocks, even modify or cancel your orders.

During this time, you can place orders for any transaction. Orders placed during this period are cleared off in the beginning.

Orders cannot be placed after 9:08 am in the pre-opening session.

Share Market Timings: 9:08 am to 9:12 am

During this interval of the pre-opening session, the price of the security is determined. This is time for order matching, estimating the opening price for a normal session.

However, the actions in the earlier session are not allowed in this session, such as buy/sell/modify/cancel orders.

During this period the price matching order is performed by corresponding demand and supply prices.

This ensures accurate transactions among investors. The final price of the stock is determined using the multilateral order matching system.

Price matching order is crucial to determine the price at which the transaction of the security will take place during normal sessions.

Share Market Timings: 9:12 am to 9:15 am

This is a transition period. This period ensures a flawless transition from the pre-opening session to the normal session.

During this period, you cannot place orders for additional transactions. You cannot cancel the orders placed between 9:00 am to 9:12 am.

Share Market Timings: 9:15 am to 3:30 pm

This is where the action is. Now begins the real game in this interval. This is known as Normal Session. This is the time where any transaction follows the bilateral matching system.

Meaning price is determined by the forces of demand and supply. The bilateral order matching system instils volatility, thereby causing market fluctuations to translate into the fluctuations in the security prices.

To hedge the volatility, the multi-order system was introduced for the pre-opening session.

3. Post-Closing session

The stock market in India calls it a day at 3:30 pm. No further transaction for the day can take place.

However, the final closing prices are determined during this period. This translates into a significant effect on the next day’s opening prices.

Share Market Timings: 3:30 pm and 3:40 pm

This session is known as a closing price calculation session. After the BSE/NSE trading time is closed at 3:30 pm, the closing price is calculated between 3:30 pm and 3:40 pm by assigning a weighted average of prices at securities traded from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm at the stock exchange.

Weighted average prices are considered to determine the closing prices of benchmark and sector indices.

The last half hour weighted average closing price is taken to calculate the final closing price of the securities.

Share Market Timings: 3:40 pm to 4:00 pm

During this period of the Post-closing session, you can bid for the next day. In other words, you can order to buy/sell stocks at the closing price. 

If you are lucky to find a buyer/seller then your order will be confirmed at the closing price.

These transactions take place at a stipulated price and not affected by fluctuations in the opening market price.

Thus, you can book a profit if the opening price exceeds the closing price.

In case the closing price exceeds the opening price, the order can be revoked between 9:00 am and 9:08 am of the day.

There are two more sessions that you need to know about:

Share Market Block Deal Session Timing

Morning block deal session window: Between 8:45 am to 9:00 am.

Afternoon block deal session window: Between 2:05 pm to 2:20 pm.

You can perform well in the stock market if you are well versed in the share market timings of operations of the stock market.

As we mentioned, the share market is all about timings, during the open and share market closing time, the share prices move significantly.

Open price is the price of the share when the market opens up to the public for trading. Likewise, the close price of the share is the price when the market shuts down its operations for the day.

Some agents, broker, AMO allow you to place an order for the next day.

Post 4:00 pm, no orders for fresh buying or selling can be placed.

However, you can place Aftermarket orders, for securities of selected companies, which will be allocated to you at the next day’s opening market price.

During Diwali, a one-hour window opens up between 5:30 pm to 6:40 pm for the trading sessions as it considered auspicious. The rest of the day is closed.

World stock market timings per Indian time

Last thing you probably need to know that almost every country has its share market timings of which vary largely.

Indian share markets timings open and close at 9:15 & 3:30 respectively, stock markets across the globe have different stock market timings as per Indian time.

If you are a global investor then the following section is just for you.

I have listed below a few worldwide share market timings as per the IST that might help.

• London Stock Exchange opens at 12:30 pm and closes at 9:30 pm.
• Nasdaq (USA) opening time 7:00 pm and closing time 2:30 am (next day)
• Hong Kong Stock Exchange opening time 5:30 am and closing time 11:30 am.
• Japan Stock Exchange opening time 5:30 am and closing time 11:30 am.
• Shanghai Stock Exchange (China) opening time 7:00 am and closing at 12:30 pm.
• Australian Security Exchange opening time 5:30 am and closing time 11:30 am.

One thing to note here is that Australian, Japan, Hongkong, China markets open in the morning before our market. That may impact the Indian stock market.

Stock timings market of India in a Nutshell

Conclusion

Although it imperative to know share market timings, it is not required to know all the timings associated with share market operations except the actual order booking and order closure time. The transaction time of 9:15 am to 3:30 pm is all important for you to do a valid transaction.

FAQs

Q1. When can I start my transactions in share market?

Indian share market opens at 9:10 am. From 9:00 am to 9:15 am is the Pre-open session. You can start booking orders and transaction from 9:15 am onwards.

Q2. What are the stock market timings?

Usual trading time in India is from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Weekends and public holidays closed.

Q3. What are the MCX & NCDEX timings?

MCX commodity market timings are 10 am to 11:30 pm, Monday to Friday. NCDEX Agri community market timing is 10 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday.

Q4. Can I buy shares when market is closed?

Talk to your broker. He may be able to help you to book a share. Through a process of after hour trading, you may be able to buy or sell stocks after market closes. Discuss with your broker for this.

Q5. Can I buy shares on Sunday?

I am afraid, this is not possible. In fact, you can do any transactions or trade when the stock market is closed during weekends and public holidays or any other holidays declared by stock exchange.