Feb 3 (Reuters) - Cboe Global Markets CBOE.N on Monday announced plans to expand U.S. equities trading to a 24-hour, five-days-a-week format to meet the global demand for the country's stock market.

The plan seeks to enable trading, which will only break on the weekends, on its Cboe EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGX).

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The move comes amid increasing demand for extended hours trading from retail investors, which is driving some brokers and exchanges to expand their offerings.

The New York Stock Exchange, a division of the Intercontinental Exchange ICE.N, said last year that it would file for permission to extend its trading hours to 22 hours each business day.

KEY QUOTES

"We continue to hear from market participants globally – particularly those in Asia Pacific markets like Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia – that they want greater access to U.S. equities trading and need trusted venues that can offer transparency, robust liquidity and efficient price discovery," said Oliver Sung, head of North American Equities at Cboe Global Markets.

CONTEXT

A 24-hour trading cycle will allow retail investors to trade overnight, i.e., to place buy and sell orders between U.S. market close at 8 p.m. ET and the opening of pre-market on-exchange trading the next morning at 4 a.m.

The potential move will allow overseas investors to carry out trades during normal hours and U.S. investors to get an edge if major news breaks later in the day.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)

((Pritam.Biswas@thomsonreuters.com;))