On the occasion of Dhanteras, an auspicious day for buying gold, the country's two leading bourses NSE and BSE will conduct extended trading till 8 pm tomorrow in Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Besides, the two bourses have also decided to waive off the transactions charges for all trades in gold ETFs on this day to cash upon the investor demand for yellow metal on this occassion.
The gold ETFs track the gold prices and each unit of these ETFs is generally equivalent to one gram of gold.
It is considered auspicious to buy valuables like gold on occassions like Dhanteras, Diwali and Akshay Tritiya in India.
Gold ETFs, where returns are linked to the domestic price of physical gold but spare the investors from the trouble of buying and keeping the yellow metal in physical form, have been gaining ground among investors in past few years.
The gold ETFs enable investment in the precious metal on the stock exchange platform in an electronic mode.
While the global markets have been in a turmoil over the past one year, and asset classes like stocks giving huge negative returns, the gold prices have rallied smartly.
Tracking the gold prices, the gold ETFs have appreciated by about 33% since last Dhanteras, although the prices have fallen somewhat in past one month.
"Gold ETF trading timings have been extended to match the timing with the bullion market. It would help increase some volume in the segment," Kejriwal Research and Investment Services Director Arun Kejriwal said.
The trading in gold ETFs would begin as per the normal daily schedule at 9 am tomorrow, but the two bourses have extended the market close timing to 8 pm to provide the investors additional time for trade in yellow metal through this route on the day of Dhanteras.
Trading in other market segments would be as per the normal trading hours from 9 am to 3.30 pm.
The extended trading would be allowed in gold ETFs of Axis, Goldman Sachs, HDFC, ICICI Pru, Kotak, Quantum, Reliance, Religare, SBI, UTI and Birla Sun Life mutual funds.
The normal trading session in gold ETFs would begin at 9 am and would continue till 3.30 pm, followed by a closing session between 3.40 pm and 4 pm, NSE said in a circular.
Thereafter, an extended trading session would take place from 4.30 pm to 8 pm, while a five-minute pre-open trading window would commence at 4.25 pm only for order cancellations.
The investors interest seems to have grown fast in gold ETFs in the recent months, as the average daily value of their trade on the NSE alone has grown by over four times since the beginning of this fiscal.
As per the NSE, the daily average trading value of gold ETFs have increased by over 400% from Rs 18 crore in April to Rs 92 crore in September 2011.
The total assets under management in gold ETFs have more than doubled in the past one year to over Rs 6,000 crore, while it has grown by over five-times in two years.
The number of investor accounts for gold ETFs has also grown to nearly four lakh, from little over one lakh accounts in September 2009.