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There are numerous stock exchanges around the world. Most operate on weekdays during regular business hours in local time, though this may vary between regions and countries. This article focuses on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) trading hours, with a brief overview of stock exchanges around the world.
The London Stock Exchange is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm and 12:02 pm to 4:30 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+00:00). The exchange closes for lunch each day, but only for 2 minutes between 12:00 to 12:02.
The London stock market hours are some of the longest in the world – with a total of 8 hours and 28 minutes of trading time. Most other exchanges only open for between 5 and 7 hours. These longer hours mean there is likely to be more volatility, as more news occurs within the time that the market is open, giving traders and investors time to adjust positions.
Moreover, the London Stock Exchange also has extended trading hours, with a Pre-Trading Session from 5:05 am to 7:50 am and a Post-Trading Session from 4:40 pm to 5:15 pm. These sessions don’t work in the same way as the regular hours, as buyers and sellers are paired directly together through electronic communication networks, rather than going through brokers or trading providers.
The London Stock Exchange is closed on weekends and bank holidays. For example, if Christmas Day falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the markets will automatically close on the Friday before, or in rare cases the following Monday.
The markets in the UK also close on other bank holidays, such as Good Friday, Spring Bank Holiday and Boxing Day, as well as having reduced trading hours on Christmas Eve to accommodate the morning only.
Most of the world’s stock exchanges are open during regular business hours, in local time. Trading is generally conducted from Monday through Friday. The Saudi Stock Exchange is an exception to the rule, as it is open from Sunday to Thursday. A small number of exchanges close for a lunch break; this is most commonly seen in Asia’s marketplaces, while the London Stock Exchange only has a two-minute break at noon.
Holidays depend on the local calendar, so they are different for every location. For example, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closes on July 4 for US Independence Day, and the Singapore Stock Exchange closes in early February for the Chinese New Year. Some exchanges close for a half day from time to time. For example, the NYSE is open only until 1 pm on Christmas Eve. The exchanges post their annual calendars well in advance, so make sure to keep an eye on each calendar and plan accordingly.
No single stock exchange is open 24 hours a day. The London Stock Exchange, for example, opens from 8:00 am to 4.30 pm (UK time) Monday to Friday.
However, there is at least one stock market open at any point throughout the day, due to the number of different regions and time zones where stock exchanges open across the world.
In the UK, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) opens at 8:00 am local trading time and closes at 4.30 pm.
The stock market is usually closed at weekends and local bank holidays. You can trade outside of your local stock exchange hours on an international exchange, and some world indices can be traded 24 hours a day with us, via spread betting or CFD trading.
A stock exchange is a marketplace or infrastructure that facilitates equity trading. The exchange is founded and managed by a corporation, private or public. It allows companies to list their stocks in its marketplace.
The term ‘stock market’ refers more generally to all stocks, or to a group of stocks in a particular region, industry, or sector.
The major stock exchanges that close for an hour during lunch are the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE/TYO), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) only has a two-minute break at noon, which isn’t really a lunch break. The mini-break is designed to protect institutional traders from high-frequency traders, whose split-second transactions can skew prices.
Most stock exchanges around the world do not open for trading on the weekend and instead operate a consistent weekday trading routine. However, stock market trading hours can differ depending on the culture and religious practice of a region. For example, various Middle Eastern stock exchanges are open on either Saturdays, Sundays or both.
A notable stock exchange, Tadawul (Saudi Stock Exchange), opens its trading hours from Sunday to Thursday, as the population consider Friday and Saturday to be weekend days for rest. Both the Doha Securities Market in Qatar and Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange in Israel follow the same schedule, even if Tel-Aviv have changed their opening and closing times slightly to reflect European trading hours.
The best time of day for stock trading is often considered to be in the first hour of a stock exchange opening, when there may be a larger volume of trading activity, based on recent news and announcements. For the London Stock Exchange, that would be between 8:00 am and 9:00 am.
This content has been created by XTB S.A. This service is provided by XTB S.A., with its registered office in Warsaw, at Prosta 67, 00-838 Warsaw, Poland, entered in the register of entrepreneurs of the National Court Register (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy) conducted by District Court for the Capital City of Warsaw, XII Commercial Division of the National Court Register under KRS number 0000217580, REGON number 015803782 and Tax Identification Number (NIP) 527-24-43-955, with the fully paid up share capital in the amount of PLN 5.869.181,75. XTB S.A. conducts brokerage activities on the basis of the license granted by Polish Securities and Exchange Commission on 8th November 2005 No. DDM-M-4021-57-1/2005 and is supervised by Polish Supervision Authority.
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