Commodity market regulator Forward Markets Commission has extended trade timings in a few internationally-linked agriculture commodities up to 11.30 pm and directed exchanges to discontinue trading in agriculture commodities on Saturdays.

The agriculture commodities put on extended trade timing from April 1 includes soya oil, soyameal, crude palm oil, refined palmolein, cotton, kapas (raw cotton), cottonseed oil cake, cottonseed, sugar and maize.

FMC has asked exchanges to file a compliance report by April 15. Currently, commodity futures market trades between 10 am and 5 pm on weekdays and 10 am and 2 pm on Saturdays. In September last year, exchanges discontinued trading in non-agriculture commodities on Saturdays on FMC’s direction. With today’s directive, trading in commodity exchanges will be completely shut on Saturday.

Closure of futures trading platform on Saturdays in agriculture will bring the trading days at a par with non-agriculture futures and help exchanges to spend Saturdays on record keeping and attend to compliance issues, said FMC.

Since the international commodities markets are closed on Saturdays, there is no reason to allow trading in agriculture commodities on Saturdays, it said.

FMC said the domestic market participants are often unable to hedge adequately their price risk associated to international price movements in certain agricultural commodities during evening hours.

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