What Time Does the UK Stock Exchange Open?
If you are interested in trading stocks in the UK, you might be wondering what time does the UK stock exchange open and close. The UK stock exchange, also known as the London Stock Exchange (LSE), is one of the largest and most influential stock markets in the world. It is home to more than 2,000 companies from over 60 countries, with a total market capitalisation of over £4 trillion.
The UK stock exchange opens at 8:00 am and closes at 4:30 pm local time, Monday to Friday, except on public holidays. There are also three auction periods during the trading day, which are called 'call auctions'. These are:
- The opening auction, from 7:50 am to 8:00 am, where orders are collected and matched at a single price that maximises the volume of shares traded.
- The intraday auction, from 12:00 pm to 12:02 pm, where orders are collected and matched for certain securities that have low liquidity or high volatility.
- The closing auction, from 4:30 pm to 4:35 pm, where orders are collected and matched at a single price that determines the official closing price of each security.
The UK stock exchange also has extended hours trading, which allows investors to trade before and after the regular trading hours. The pre-trading session is from 5:05 am to 7:50 am, and the post-trading session is from 4:40 pm to 5:15 pm. However, not all securities are eligible for extended hours trading, and the liquidity and volatility may be lower than during the regular trading hours.
The UK stock exchange operates on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST) depending on the season. GMT is the same as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), while BST is one hour ahead of GMT. The UK switches to BST on the last Sunday of March and back to GMT on the last Sunday of October. Therefore, the UK stock exchange trading hours may vary depending on your time zone and daylight saving time.
The following table shows the UK stock exchange trading hours in both local and UK (GMT/BST) time zones for some major cities around the world.
| City | Local Time Zone | Local Trading Hours | UK (GMT/BST) Trading Hours |
|------|-----------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
| London | GMT/BST | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm |
| New York | EST/EDT | 3:00 am - 11:30 am | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm |
| Sydney | AEST/AEDT | 7:00 pm - 3:30 am | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm |
| Tokyo | JST | 5:00 pm - 1:30 am | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm |
| Hong Kong | HKT | 4:00 pm - 12:30 am | 8:00 am - 4:30 pm |
If you want to trade stocks in the UK stock exchange, you need to be aware of the trading hours and how they may affect your trading strategy. You also need to consider other factors such as market volatility, liquidity, fees, regulations, and taxes. You can use online platforms such as CMC Markets to access the UK stock exchange and other global markets with ease and convenience.