The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has announced that it will open for trading on Saturday, May 18, 2024, marking the second instance this year when live trading will occur on a weekend.
This special session is part of the NSE's efforts to test its readiness in handling unexpected disasters, in line with guidelines set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) regarding Business Continuity Plans (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Sites (DRS) for stock exchanges and depositories.
During this session, trading will take place in the equity and equity derivatives segments, including an intra-day switch over from the primary site to the disaster recovery site.
The trading session will be divided into two parts. The first part, from 9:15 am to 10 am, will involve normal trading operations. The second part, conducted from the disaster recovery site, will occur from 11:45 am to 12:40 pm.
For this special trading session, all securities, including those with derivative products, will have a maximum price band of 5%. Securities currently under a 2% or lower price band will continue within their respective bands.
This initiative is not unprecedented, as similar disaster recovery plans have been tested by the NSE and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in the past. The last such exercise took place on March 2, 2024.
While stock markets are typically closed on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, exceptions are made for special occasions or testing purposes, such as during the 2020 Budget when both BSE and NSE operated on a Saturday in February.
The upcoming trading session aligns with Sebi's guidelines to ensure preparedness for handling unexpected disasters, particularly from the main trading center in Mumbai.
This will be the third Saturday trading session of the year, following earlier sessions on January 20 (which was later extended due to a holiday on January 22) and March 2, 2024. Similar disaster recovery sessions have been conducted by the exchanges in previous years, in 2016 and 2017.
