NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - Trading hours for the CBOE Volatility index VIX .VIX futures will be extended to nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week, beginning June 22, the Chicago Board Options Exchange said on Tuesday.

Pending regulatory review, the trading week for VIX futures at CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) will begin each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CT and end on Friday at 3:15 p.m. CT.

CFE will close for 15 minutes between 3:15 p.m. CT and 3:30 p.m. CT on Monday through Thursday, when no trading will be transacted. The new trading day on those days will then begin at 3:30 p.m. CT.

The VIX, which usually moves inversely to the S&P 500, is often used as a gauge to measure the level of anxiety in the market and also as a hedge against market decline.

"Now VIX futures customers around the world - including investment banks, proprietary trading firms, hedge funds, CTAs and issuers of exchange traded products - will have the ability to trade VIX futures virtually around the clock and to react immediately to events affecting global markets," CBOE Holdings CEO Edward T. Tilly said.

Just under eight percent of the average daily volume in VIX futures was transacted outside of regular U.S. trading hours this year through February, according to the exchange.

In April 2013, a software glitch shut down the CBOE, run by CBOE Holdings Inc CBOE.O , for half a day, preventing trading in options on the VIX and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX >, two of the most closely watched instruments in the financial markets.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

((angela.moon@thomsonreuters.com)(+1 646 223 5685)(Reuters Messaging: angela.moon.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: CBOE OPTIONS/VIX