Official trading holidays and session hours for the Casablanca Stock Exchange. Plan your trades around Moroccan public holidays, Ramadan adjustments, and BAM policy meetings.
| Phase | Time (WAT) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-opening | 09:00 – 09:30 | Orders collected, no execution |
| Opening auction | 09:30 | Opening price set |
| Continuous session | 09:30 – 15:20 | Live order matching |
| Closing auction | 15:20 – 15:30 | Closing price set |
| After-hours | 15:30+ | Reporting only, no execution |
The Bourse de Casablanca is closed on all Moroccan national holidays. Islamic holidays follow the lunar calendar - exact dates may shift by one day depending on moon sighting.
During Ramadan (approximately 1–30 March 2025), the Bourse de Casablanca typically shortens its session. In recent years the exchange has run approximately 09:00 to 13:30 WAT during Ramadan. The official schedule will be confirmed by the exchange and updated here when announced.
BAM holds quarterly Board meetings to review the key rate. These are major market-moving events for the MASI and MAD exchange rates.
| Meeting | Approx. Date | Current Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2025 | March 2025 | 2.75% |
| Q2 2025 | June 2025 | TBC |
| Q3 2025 | September 2025 | TBC |
| Q4 2025 | December 2025 | TBC |
Trades on the Casablanca Stock Exchange settle T+2 — two business days after execution. Settlement is handled by Maroclear, Morocco's central securities depository established in 1997. Weekends and public holidays do not count as business days, which means a trade executed on Wednesday before a Thursday holiday will not settle until Monday. Investors placing orders near holiday periods should factor settlement timing into cash flow planning.
Ramadan is the most significant calendar adjustment for the Casablanca Stock Exchange. The shortened session — typically closing around 13:30 instead of 15:30 — compresses the trading window by roughly two hours. This creates higher concentration of order flow, which can amplify intraday price swings. Liquidity also tends to decrease during Ramadan as institutional and retail participation drops. For stocks with low average daily volume, the impact is more pronounced: wider bid-ask spreads and harder execution at desired prices. International investors unfamiliar with the Ramadan schedule occasionally miss session boundaries or misinterpret reduced volume as a market signal when it is simply a calendar effect.
Bank Al-Maghrib's quarterly board meetings are the single most predictable market-moving event on the Moroccan calendar. When BAM adjusts the key rate, the effect ripples across multiple asset classes simultaneously. A rate cut lowers bank funding costs, which improves net interest margins for ATW and BCP, and makes equities more attractive relative to treasury bills. A rate hike does the opposite. Even when the rate is held unchanged, the accompanying policy statement — including inflation forecasts, growth projections, and guidance on future moves — shapes market expectations for weeks afterward. The MASI often moves more on the day of a BAM meeting than on a typical trading session, particularly when the decision differs from consensus.
Moroccan public holidays occasionally cluster: Throne Day (30 July), Oued Ed-Dahab Day (14 August), Revolution Day (20 August), and Youth Day (21 August) all fall within a four-week window, creating a period of frequent market closures during late summer. Combined with lower European participation in August, this period typically has the lowest annual trading volume on the BVC. Investors holding positions through this window should be aware that price discovery may be less reliable and that news-driven gaps between sessions are more common. Islamic holidays add further uncertainty because their exact dates depend on lunar observation and may be confirmed only one or two days in advance.
Bourse des Valeurs de Casablanca — casablanca-bourse.com (trading hours, holiday schedule, session rules)
Bank Al-Maghrib — bkam.ma (monetary policy calendar, key rate decisions)
Maroclear — maroclear.ma (settlement rules, T+2 cycle)
Islamic holiday dates are approximate and subject to lunar observation.