Society

TSE to consider extension of trading hours

May 19 (NHK) - The Tokyo Stock Exchange will consider extending its trading hours in an effort to boost its competitiveness.

It's established a working group to come up with specific measures after gauging the opinions of securities companies and institutional investors.

The group will consider extending the afternoon session for equity trading beyond the current closing time of 3pm. The exchange's trading day is 5 hours, divided into two sessions with a fixed one-hour lunch break.

That's much shorter than New York's six-and-a half hours, and London's eight-and-a half hour day.

The working group also plans to assess the effect of offering trading opportunities during extended periods of public holidays.

After a system failure last October that halted all stock transactions for a whole day, the group will also consider how to resume trading more quickly.

TSE officials say they plan to announce the working group's recommendations by October.

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