Mumbai: So, there’s this dude strolling past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai on a regular Monday, May 12, 2025. Nothing out of the ordinary, right? Well, hold your horses, because the stock market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty decided to put on a show and rebounded sharply by 3 per cent. Why, you ask? Oh, just because India and Pakistan decided to announce some kind of bilateral understanding. (PTI Photo)(PTI05_12_2025_000113B)
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is stirring up some drama by pushing for a change in the weekly expiry day of its index derivative contracts from Thursday to Tuesday. This move is causing a bit of a showdown between NSE and its competitor BSE, which already has its weekly expiry on Tuesday. Analysts are predicting that BSE might have to up its game and shift its expiry day to Thursday to keep up with the competition. Goldman Sachs, a big-shot global brokerage firm, is even placing bets on BSE making the switch to Thursday. But wait, there’s more! If this change gets the green light from the regulator, it could potentially shrink BSE’s market share in index options premium by 3-4 percentage points. That’s a pretty big deal, dropping from 22.2% to around 18.8% this year, according to Goldman Sachs. The plot thickens as NSE has already applied to SEBI, the markets regulator, to move its expiry day to Tuesday, after initially planning to switch to Monday. SEBI still hasn’t given the nod of approval. And guess what? BSE’s shares took a nosedive by over 5% on Thursday following reports of NSE’s application. Drama, drama, drama!
The regulatory waters are getting murkier as SEBI is considering limiting weekly expiries to just two days – Tuesdays and Thursdays. SEBI’s big boss, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, dropped the bombshell at an event recently, hinting at an imminent final circular on the matter. The proposed changes are aiming to bring more stability to the market and strengthen the index derivatives framework. With all the juggling going on, market sources are speculating that more expiry days could lead to a frenzy of activity in index options. SEBI is leaning towards allowing NSE to shift its expiry day to Tuesday, mainly to prevent each exchange from having its dedicated day. This move is meant to keep things in check and prevent chaos in the market. So, get ready for a showdown between NSE and BSE, battling it out for expiry day volumes on the same day. The stage is set for other players like MSE and NCDEX to jump in and launch their weekly options contracts on Thursday. It’s a rollercoaster ride in the stock market world, and the drama is far from over. Stay tuned for more twists and turns in this nail-biting saga.