NSE seeks Sebi nod to move weekly index expiry from Thursday to Tuesday

NSE proposes shifting weekly index derivative expiry to Tuesday from Thursday as Sebi moves to standardise expiries and curb volatility

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has requested the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to switch the weekly expiry day of its index derivative contracts to Tuesday from Thursday, said sources.

 

The exchange had earlier shelved its plan to move expiries to Monday after a proposal by Sebi to limit expiries to just two days in the week — Tuesdays and Thursdays. The market regulator will soon issue the final circular on the same, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said at the sidelines of an event by industry body Assocham in New Delhi.

 

Earlier this month, Sebi’s secondary market advisory committee had discussed the proposals. The market regulator’s aim behind the proposal was to reduce expiry-day volatility.

 

Sources privy to the matter said that after analysing all the ‘considerations’ the exchange may have concluded that Tuesday would be best suited for the expiry of derivatives contracts on indices. 

 

It is noteworthy that at present, the index options contracts of BSE expire on Tuesdays.

 

Emailed queries sent to Sebi, NSE, and BSE for comments remained unanswered till the time of going to press.

 

NSE’s revenue from transaction charges in Q4FY25 declined 15 per cent quarter-on-quarter due to a reduction in volumes across the cash market and derivatives segment.

 

NSE management in an analyst call had stated they may not see any further loss of market share in the derivatives segment to the rival BSE. The impact on the market share followed regulatory changes by Sebi which limited weekly expiries to one benchmark per exchange. 

 

 "The market share loss part has run its course now, given the fact that everything that had to happen has happened, hopefully. And so, unless the new other measures come that specifically target only NSE, we seem to believe that this is pretty much the market share," the NSE management added.

 

Sebi working to resolve ‘issues’ around NSE IPO

 

The market regulator is working on resolving ‘outstanding issues’ around the initial public offering (IPO) of the NSE , Sebi chairman said on Thursday. While he did not give a timeline, he added that it may be done ‘soon’.

 

“All the outstanding issues will be resolved and we will move forward. We can’t give a timeline but we will soon do it,” said Pandey. 

 

The exchange had sought a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the market regulator to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) for further processing. The response by Sebi on the same is still awaited.