Nasdaq Looks at Expanding Trading Hours

The Nasdaq Stock Market is considering expanding trading hours to as late as 9 p.m. New York time at the second-largest U.S. stock market, Nasdaq President Alfred Berkeley said Tuesday.

A Nasdaq committee also is looking at whether to start trading as much as an hour earlier, Berkeley said. Main Nasdaq trading hours are now 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time.

Nasdaq’s Quality of Markets Committee will consider the proposal during the next one to three months before it goes to the board of the National Assn. of Securities Dealers, Berkeley said.

Last month, New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard Grasso said the Big Board next year may expand trading hours to 5 a.m. to midnight, as it battles Nasdaq and international markets for a bigger piece of world trading.