SAST to EST

South Africa Standard Time is UTC+2 for the whole country, with no daylight saving; South Africa last changed its clocks in the 1940s. The JSE in Johannesburg trades from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM local time. In the northern winter the New York open at 9:30 AM Eastern arrives at 4:30 PM in Johannesburg, so the two markets overlap for only the final half hour of the JSE day; in summer the New York open is 3:30 PM in Johannesburg, giving about an hour and a half of overlap.

Many dual-listed South African mining and resource companies are watched in both markets, so analysts in Johannesburg keep an eye on New York pre-market news from mid-afternoon onward.

Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg host customer-service centers for American and British companies, helped by English fluency and a time zone that suits both. Agents covering New York hours work from 3:00 or 4:00 PM until late evening South African time. For meetings, 3:00 to 5:00 PM in Johannesburg is 8:00 to 10:00 AM in New York in winter and 9:00 to 11:00 AM in summer.

Delta flies nonstop from Atlanta and United from Newark to Johannesburg and Cape Town, in roughly 15 to 16 hours. South Africa's main holiday season runs from mid-December to early January, the height of the southern summer, when many businesses close or run reduced hours. Count the working days around it with days between dates.