Knowing exactly when the world’s major stock exchanges open and close is essential for anyone trading across borders, managing a global portfolio, or following international markets in real time.
This guide lists the regular trading hours of 22 leading stock exchanges, converted into both US Eastern Time (EST) and Gulf Standard Time (UAE), so you can see at a glance which markets are open at any point in your day.
We then break the exchanges down by region — Gulf, Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa — and explain how daylight saving time and differing trading weeks shift these hours through the year.
The table below shows the regular trading session for each exchange in its local time, alongside the equivalent window in US Eastern Time and UAE time. Times reflect standard (winter) hours; see the daylight saving note below for the months when several of these shift.
| # | Market / Exchange | Zone | Approx. Market Cap (USD, 2026) | Local Trading Hours (Days) | EST (UTC−5) | UAE (UTC+4) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bahrain Bourse | Gulf (GCC) | ~$30 B | 9:30 AM–1:00 PM (Sun–Thu) | 1:30–5:00 AM | 10:30 AM–2:00 PM |
| 2 | Toronto Stock Exchange | North America | ~$3.2 T | 9:30 AM–4:00 PM (Mon–Fri) | 9:30 AM–4:00 PM | 6:30 PM–1:00 AM⁺ |
| 3 | Shanghai Stock Exchange | Asia | ~$6.8 T | 9:30 AM–3:00 PM, break 11:30–1:00 (Mon–Fri) | 8:30 PM–2:00 AM* | 5:30–11:00 AM |
| 4 | Euronext Paris | Eurozone | ~$3.5 T | 9:00 AM–5:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–11:30 AM | 12:00–8:30 PM |
| 5 | Deutsche Börse (XETRA) | Eurozone | ~$2.4 T | 9:00 AM–5:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–11:30 AM | 12:00–8:30 PM |
| 6 | Hong Kong Stock Exchange | Asia | ~$4.5 T | 9:30 AM–4:00 PM, break 12:00–1:00 (Mon–Fri) | 8:30 PM–3:00 AM* | 5:30 AM–12:00 PM |
| 7 | National Stock Exchange (India) | Asia | ~$5 T | 9:15 AM–3:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 10:45 PM–5:00 AM* | 7:45 AM–2:00 PM |
| 8 | Tokyo Stock Exchange | Asia | ~$6.3 T | 9:00 AM–3:30 PM, break 11:30–12:30 (Mon–Fri) | 7:00 PM–1:30 AM* | 4:00–10:30 AM |
| 9 | Boursa Kuwait | Gulf (GCC) | ~$140 B | 9:00 AM–12:30 PM (Sun–Thu) | 1:00–4:30 AM | 10:00 AM–1:30 PM |
| 10 | Euronext Amsterdam | Eurozone | ~$1.3 T | 9:00 AM–5:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–11:30 AM | 12:00–8:30 PM |
| 11 | Oslo Børs | Europe (non-€) | ~$370 B | 9:00 AM–4:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–10:30 AM | 12:00–7:30 PM |
| 12 | Muscat Stock Exchange | Gulf (GCC) | ~$28 B | 10:00 AM–1:00 PM (Sun–Thu) | 1:00–4:00 AM | 10:00 AM–1:00 PM |
| 13 | Pakistan Stock Exchange | Asia | ~$40 B | 9:30 AM–3:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 11:30 PM–5:30 AM* | 8:30 AM–2:30 PM |
| 14 | Qatar Stock Exchange | Gulf (GCC) | ~$165 B | 9:30 AM–1:15 PM (Sun–Thu) | 1:30–5:15 AM | 10:30 AM–2:15 PM |
| 15 | Johannesburg Stock Exchange | Africa | ~$1.2 T | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM (Mon–Fri) | 2:00–10:00 AM | 11:00 AM–7:00 PM |
| 16 | Tadawul (Saudi Arabia) | Gulf (GCC) | ~$2.7 T | 10:00 AM–3:00 PM (Sun–Thu) | 2:00–7:00 AM | 11:00 AM–4:00 PM |
| 17 | Singapore Exchange | Asia | ~$650 B | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM (Mon–Fri) | 8:00 PM–4:00 AM* | 5:00 AM–1:00 PM |
| 18 | Korea Exchange | Asia | ~$2.0 T | 9:00 AM–3:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 7:00 PM–1:30 AM* | 4:00–10:30 AM |
| 19 | SIX Swiss Exchange | Europe (non-€) | ~$2.1 T | 9:00 AM–5:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–11:30 AM | 12:00–8:30 PM |
| 20 | DFM + Abu Dhabi (ADX) | Gulf (GCC) | ~$0.95 T | 10:00 AM–3:00 PM (Mon–Fri) | 1:00–6:00 AM | 10:00 AM–3:00 PM |
| 21 | London Stock Exchange | Europe (non-€) | ~$3.2 T | 8:00 AM–4:30 PM (Mon–Fri) | 3:00–11:30 AM | 12:00–8:30 PM |
| 22 | NYSE / NASDAQ | North America | ~$56 T | 9:30 AM–4:00 PM (Mon–Fri) | 9:30 AM–4:00 PM | 6:30 PM–1:00 AM⁺ |
* Session opens the previous calendar evening in New York time. ⁺ Session closes after midnight the following day in UAE time. Lunch breaks (shown for Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo) pause trading mid-session; the EST and UAE columns show the full open-to-close window. Market capitalisation figures are approximate 2026 values and move daily.
The Gulf bourses — Bahrain, Boursa Kuwait, Muscat, Qatar, Tadawul in Saudi Arabia, and the UAE’s DFM and ADX — sit in the UTC+3 to UTC+4 band and run relatively short single sessions. Most trade Sunday to Thursday, with the notable exception of the UAE, which moved to a Monday-to-Friday week in 2022 to align with global markets.
Asia’s major venues — Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, India’s NSE, Korea, Singapore, and Pakistan — open during the European night and the US evening. For traders in the Americas these sessions begin the previous calendar evening, while in the Gulf they fall across the early morning. Several, including Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, pause for a midday lunch break.
The Eurozone exchanges — Euronext in Paris and Amsterdam and Germany’s Deutsche Börse — share the same 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM CET window. Non-euro European markets such as the London Stock Exchange, Switzerland’s SIX, and Oslo Børs keep similar hours in their own currencies. All observe European summer time from late March to late October.
The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and the Toronto Stock Exchange all trade from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time, Monday to Friday. As the world’s largest equity markets by value, their session is the reference point against which most other exchanges are measured. They switch to daylight time from mid-March to early November.
Two factors regularly shift the converted times above. First, daylight saving: North American markets observe EDT from mid-March to early November, and European markets observe summer time from late March to late October — during these windows their EST and UAE equivalents move one hour earlier. Gulf, Asian, and Indian markets do not change their clocks at all. Second, the trading week: the Gulf exchanges of Bahrain, Kuwait, Muscat, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia trade Sunday to Thursday, while the UAE and every Western and Asian market trade Monday to Friday.
The New York Stock Exchange is the largest, followed by the Nasdaq. Together, the two US venues account for the majority of global equity market value.
During US standard time the NYSE opens at 6:30 PM UAE time and closes at 1:00 AM the next day. During US daylight time, from mid-March to early November, it opens an hour earlier at 5:30 PM UAE time.
With exchanges opening across every time zone, there is almost always a market trading somewhere in the world. Bookmarking a reference like this — and keeping the daylight saving shifts in mind — makes it far easier to plan trades, schedule research, and follow breaking market news wherever it originates.
Understanding when markets open is one thing; knowing what to do once they do is another.
The investors who build lasting wealth aren’t the ones watching candles at 3am — they’re the ones with a clear, professionally managed approach.
As an independent, CMA-regulated firm, Elevate Financial helps investors put their capital to work with disciplined and unconventional approach.