Extension of Trading Hours
The South Korean stock and foreign exchange markets’ daily trading hours are extended by 30 minutes from August 1. The idea is to help increase the liquidity of the stock market while improving foreign investors’ access to the markets.
The Korea Exchange announced on May 24 that the regular trading hours of the stock and derivatives markets will be extended by half an hour from the first day of August this year so that the domestic capital market’s global competitiveness can be enhanced along with investors’ convenience.
Such an extension is for the first time since 2000, when the lunch break was repealed. From August 1 this year, the closing bell rings at 15:30 instead of 15:00 and the regular trading can be carried out until 18:30 instead of 18:00. The same extension is to be applied to the derivatives and gold markets, too. However, the duration of the after-hour market is shortened by 30 minutes.
On May 24, the Seoul Foreign Exchange Market Committee also held a meeting and decided to take the same measure as the Korea Exchange.