The secondary markets advisory committee (SMAC) of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi),

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which met on Tuesday, decided to “further study” the issue of extending trading hours in the local stock markets.

The committee was “generally appreciative” on the need to extend trading hours, said a member, who attended the meeting. However, a consensus on the timings for the extended hours and how much should be the additional trading hours is yet to be reached. “After a further study, it will come back to the SMAC,” said one of the members.

Another member, who attended the meeting, told Financial Chronicle that no consensus has been reached among market participants such as brokers, stock exchanges and investors’ associations in the case of increasing the trading hours from the present 9:55 am to 3:30 pm. According to him, the matter has been referred to a sub-committee.

The domestic stock exchanges, especially the National Stock Exchange (NSE), is in favour of an increase in market hours to prevent flight of business from India to Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) where Nifty futures are traded.

Another issue that was discussed relates to misuse of clients’ id by brokers. “It was found that several brokers using investors ids for their own trading purposes. The committee discussed the issue and decided to suggest proper steps to stop this practise,” the member said.