CAS Rollout Leads to Divergent Closing Prices for Same Stocks

Mumbai, 4 August – The securities market regulator’s newly launched Closing Auction Session (CAS) has resulted in parallel yet divergent closing prices for several equities traded on the BSE and NSE. Trident’s share closed at Rs 3,070 on the BSE, up 1.15%, while the same security settled at Rs 3,107.70 on the NSE, gaining 1.89%. India Electronics Ltd (BEL) posted a modest 0.94% rise to Rs 392 on the BSE but slipped 0.17% to Rs 391.5 on the NSE. Bajaj Finance recorded a 1.06% increase to Rs 1,153 on BSE but fell 0.35% to Rs 1,149 on NSE. M&M’s price difference was also evident, closing at Rs 3,405 on BSE (+0.58%) versus Rs 3,433 on NSE (+0.13%).

Other securities such as Bajaj Finserv, Titan, TCS and UltraTech Cement displayed similar split outcomes. The index numbers mirrored this pattern: at 09:21 IST the Sensex was up 149 points (0.19%) at 78,788, while the Nifty was down 160 points (0.65%) at 24,618. By market close, the Sensex dipped to 78,428.95 (‑0.27%) and the Nifty to 24,614.90 (‑0.64%), a 0.37% divergence in the final closing values. The previous day’s session, which also operated under CAS, saw the Nifty climb 1.6% and the Sensex increase 0.7% at close, reinforcing concerns about the consistency of the new system.