Yesterday marked the end of daylight savings for many Australians. With the futures markets suggesting the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) will open 4.3% lower, ASX investors might be eager to know what time the sharemarket will open in their local timezone.
In Australia, daylight savings typically finishes on the first Sunday in April. This year, that was yesterday, 6 April. When daylight saving ends, clocks are turned backward one hour, meaning you "gain" one hour. That means this Monday morning, 7:00 am became 6:00 am, and you got an extra hour of sleep.
However, not all Australian states observe daylight savings time. It's observed in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory, but not in Queensland, the Northern Territory, or Western Australia.
The ASX opening hours are between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Sydney time. For Victorian, Australian Capital Territory, and Tasmanian residents who observe the same time zone as New South Wales (Sydney), hours will remain the same.
For Queensland residents, instead of opening from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, the market will also now open from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm.
For South Australian residents, the market will continue to open from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.
For Western Australian residents, the ASX will now open from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Finally, for Northern Territory residents, the market will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The good news for Australian investors who observe daylight savings is that US share markets will now open an hour earlier. For New South Wales, Victorian, Australian Capital Territory, and Tasmanian residents, instead of opening at 12:30 a.m., US markets will open at 11:30 p.m.
This means investors won't need to stay up as late to check their US investments or see what's happening with holdings in their US-focused ETFs, such as the Vanguard US Total Market Shares Index AUD ETF (ASX: VTS), the iShares S&P 500 AUD ETF (ASX: IVV), and the Global X Fang+ ETF (ASX: FANG).
With such dramatic US share price movements last week, this shift in schedule appears to have come at an ideal time.
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