The Securities and Exchange Board of India may restore trading hours of non-agri segment and is expected to issue a circular soon.
On March 26, Sebi informed the exchanges that it was changing the closing time from 11.30 PM to 5 PM and it was implemented from March 30.
However, the Commodity Participants Association of India (CPAI), which had previously written to the regulator seeking curtailed trading hours, has now requested for a return to old timings.
"This time, Sebi has sought views of all associations, including ANMI and BSE and brokers forums on increasing timing of trade. All have supported increasing the duration," a source told Moneycontrol.
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A broker on condition of anonymity said: "Earlier, the situation was different. We were not able to reach office and back-end was not properly functioning, which is not the case now."
The hit in volumes has forced the exchanges to request the regulator to revert to old timings.
"MCX has now realised that their volumes have taken a big hit. So, they are also pushing with for reverting to the old timing," another source told Moneycontrol.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the daily turnover volume at MCX used to be around Rs 18,000-20,000 crore, which has come down to Rs 12,000-13000 crore.
"The association had not taken a full view of curtailing time of commodity trading. Non-agri is mostly affected as the United States market starts at 7 PM India time and we are already closed then. It is difficult to continue trading when the market is so volatile," a broker told Moneycontrol.
WTI Crude Oil futures for May delivery plunged to $10.34 per barrel on April 20, the lowest level since 1986 on fear of rapidly filling global storage facilities caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
In the domestic market, MCX crude oil delivery for April closed at Rs 965 per barrel down Rs 471, or 32.8 percent.
Also read: WTI Crude futures for May delivery plummets 40.18% to $10.93/barrel
Gold futures for delivery in June slipped Rs 74, or 0.16 percent, on the MCX, closing at Rs 45,661 per 10 gram in a business turnover of 16,407 lots. While spot gold was up by $13.50 at $1,697.28 an ounce in London trading at 16:20 GMT.
Also read: Gold steady at Rs 45,793 per 10 gram, silver up marginally
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