Press Trust of India With a view to facilitate physical settlement of equity derivatives contracts, market regulator SEBI on Friday extended the trading timings in the securities lending and borrowing (SLB) segment till 5 pm. Currently, trading is allowed in the segment from 9.55 am till 3.30 pm. The SLB mechanism allows short-sellers to borrow securities for making deliveries.
The move is aimed at facilitating physical settlement of equity derivatives contracts.
According to SEBI, the permission is subject to risk management system and infrastructure of stock exchanges and clearing corporations commensurate with the trading hours.
The decision comes after the markets watchdog in May permitted exchanges to extend the trading time in equity derivatives contracts by more than eight hours till almost midnight from October 1.
The extended timing is similar to the trading hours for commodity derivatives segment, which is presently fixed between 10 am and 11.55 pm.
The move was part of SEBI’s efforts to enable integration of stocks and commodities trading on a single exchange.