India's SEBI adds closing auction and extends F&O trading hours from Aug 3

Effective Monday, August 3, the Securities and Exchange Board of India will overhaul the end-of-day process for F&O-eligible (Category I) stocks by adding a Closing Auction Session. Regular trading will cease at 3:15 pm, followed by a five-minute buffer, after which two five-minute order-entry windows (3:20-3:25 pm and 3:25-3:30 pm) will feed an auction whose price becomes the official close. Order matching occurs between 3:30 pm and 3:35 pm.

Stocks not eligible for futures and options will continue to trade until 3:30 pm unchanged. The equity derivatives segment will now trade until 3:40 pm, extending its session by ten minutes. Additionally, SEBI shortens the pre-opening period, moving order entry to 9:00-9:07 am and matching to 9:07-9:15 am. The regulator says the changes aim to improve price transparency, liquidity aggregation, and alignment with global market practices.