NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.'s (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Bob Greifeld said on Monday he saw no need to change trading hours to open earlier in the day -- nor did his customers at the No. 2 U.S. stock exchange.
Although larger rival the New York Stock Exchange has said it will look at the issue of opening earlier later this year, Greifeld ruled this out, saying pre-market trading already existed and was quite light.
"We are failing to hear our customers requesting an earlier opening. In fact we are hearing quite the opposite," Greifeld told the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York.
"We would certainly, as we sit here today, not be in favor of it."
Chief Executive John Thain of the NYSE Group (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, has said it would make sense to open the Big Board earlier than the current 9:30 a.m. New York time.
He said the NYSE, the largest U.S. exchange, was losing a couple of percentage points of market share by not opening earlier, with those trades lost to electronic exchanges and trading networks that can operate around the clock.
But opening the exchange earlier would be a controversial move, particularly for those in time zones to the west of New York, such as the West Coast. Thain has said the concept isn't very popular on the floor or on the West Coast -- and Greifeld agreed.
"The further west you go, the louder you hear the cry is not to open earlier," he said.
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