Time zones and stock markets

Every stock exchange opens and closes by its own city's clock. The New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 AM New York time, whatever time that is for you. So to know when a market is open where you are, you need to convert its hours from its time zone to yours.

Because exchanges sit in different time zones, their trading days follow the sun around the world. Each weekday begins in Sydney and Tokyo, moves to Hong Kong, then to London, and ends in New York.

In each exchange's local time, with the UTC equivalent on a weekday in January:

• Sydney (ASX): about 10:00 to 16:00. In January, that's 23:00 to 05:00 UTC, so the session starts on what is still the previous evening in Europe and the Americas.^[1]
• Tokyo (TSE): 9:00 to 11:30, then 12:30 to 15:30 after a lunch break. That's 00:00 to 06:30 UTC. Tokyo moved its close from 15:00 to 15:30 in November 2024.^[2]
• Hong Kong (HKEX): 9:30 to 12:00, then 13:00 to 16:00. That's 01:30 to 08:00 UTC.^[3]
• London (LSE): 8:00 to 16:30, followed by a short closing auction. In January, that's 08:00 to 16:30 UTC.^[4]
• New York (NYSE): 9:30 to 16:00. In January, that's 14:30 to 21:00 UTC.^[5]

These are the regular sessions. Many exchanges also have auctions, early sessions or after-hours trading around them, and every exchange closes on its own country's public holidays.^[5]

Since markets keep local time, their hours in UTC shift whenever their city changes its clocks. In July, London trades from 07:00 to 15:30 UTC and New York from 13:30 to 20:00 UTC, an hour earlier than in January. Sydney goes the other way: its summer is in January, so it opens at 23:00 UTC then and at 00:00 UTC in July.

Tokyo and Hong Kong don't use daylight saving time, so their UTC hours stay the same all year. That means the gap between, say, the Tokyo close and the London open changes by an hour twice a year.

London and New York are two of the world's biggest markets, and many traders pay close attention to the hours when both are open. Most of the year, that's two hours: from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM in New York, which is 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM in London.

For a few weeks each spring the overlap grows to three hours, because the US moves its clocks forward on the second Sunday in March, while the UK waits until the last Sunday.^{[6, 7]} In those weeks, New York opens at 1:30 PM London time instead of 2:30 PM. In autumn, the UK changes first, by a week, which has the same effect. If you trade across both markets, these are the weeks to double-check your schedule.

• Convert for the date, not just the hour. The Sydney open is Monday morning there but Sunday evening in New York.
• Check the exchange's calendar. Holidays and half-days are set locally and don't line up between countries.
• Watch the clock changes. In March, October and November, a market you follow can open an hour earlier or later in your time. See daylight saving time for the dates.
• Keep the cities on a clock. Add Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, London and New York to the world clock to see the local time in each financial center next to your own.

For converting a single market time by hand, see how to convert time zones.

1. 1.ASX, Cash market trading hours. ASX normal trading until 4:00 p.m., Sydney time.
2. 2.Japan Exchange Group, Trading hours. Tokyo's morning and afternoon sessions, and the 2024 extension to 3:30 p.m.
3. 3.HKEX, Trading hours: securities market. Hong Kong's morning and afternoon sessions.
4. 4.SharePad / ShareScope, The Trader: understanding SETS auctions. London's 08:00 to 16:30 trading day and its opening and closing auctions.
5. 5.NYSE, Holidays and trading hours. The NYSE core session of 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and its holidays.
6. 6.U.S. Department of Transportation, Daylight Saving Time. US clock change dates.
7. 7.GOV.UK, When do the clocks change?. UK clock change dates.