Trading and demat account are the two basic requirements to start trading in India. However, it is equally important to be aware of the share market timings in India. Share market timings are common across India on NSE and BSE, the two major stock market exchanges in India.
Share market timings in India consist of three sessions which can be classified as the pre-opening session, the normal session and the post-closing session. The normal session in the stock market timings is from 09.15AM to 3.30PM.
Share market timings in India at a glance
| Session | Time |
| Pre-opening session | 9.00 AM – 9.15 AM |
| Normal session | 9.15 AM – 3.30 PM |
| Closing session | 3.30 PM – 4.00 PM |
Let’s take a detailed look at the different sessions of share market timings in India
Pre-opening session
The pre-opening session in stock market starts is from 09:00 AM to 09:15 AM. It is divided into three categories.
1: Prep-opening session from 09:00 AM to 09:08 AM
In this session, a trader can place buy or sell orders as well modify/cancel orders placed. Orders placed during this session are executed on a preferential basis when the market opens for normal session at 09.15 AM.
2: Prep-opening session from 09:08 AM to 09:12 AM
These four minutes are used by the exchange to match orders using a comparison of demand and supply. This helps in determining the price of shares when the market opens for normal session at 09.15 AM. It is important to note that during this session, a trader cannot place any new orders or modify/cancel any order.
3: Prep-opening session from 09:12 AM to 09:15 AM
This is a buffer period which facilitates the transition from pre open market to normal market session.
During this session also a trader cannot place any new orders or modify/cancel any order.
Normal session
The normal trading session of the market is from 09.15AM to 3.30PM. During this session, traders can place orders to buy or sell stocks as well as modify or cancel their orders without any restrictions. During the normal session of share market timings, a bilateral order matching system is utilized where every buy order is matched with a sell order at the same stock price and every sell order is matched with a buy order at the same price.
Post-closing session
Stock market timings in the post-closing session can be briefly divided into two categories as below:
Post-closing session from 03:30 PM to 03:40 PM
In this session, the weighted average of the stock prices traded between 03:00 PM and 03:30 PM are used for calculation of closing prices of stocks.
Session 2: From 03:40 PM to 04:00 PM
In the last session, traders are permitted to place buy and sell orders. However, such orders are confirmed only in case there are sufficient numbers of buyers and sellers in the market.
– Written and contributed by Pradeep Sukumaran.
