Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, nine stocks were banned from trade on Thursday, September 21, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Balrampur Chini Mills, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Chambal Fertilizers, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Manappuram Finance, Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL).

Derivative contracts of these stocks were banned as the open market interest for these securities has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit (MWPL) set by the exchanges. The MWPL is the maximum number of contracts that can be opened at any particular time. 

The open interest for the derivative contracts of Chambal Fertilizers stood at 83.9% of its MWPL at the closing time on Wednesday, while that of Balrampur Chini was 95.6%. PNB and Delta Corp saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 88.9% and 95.5%, respectively. 

The combined open interest for the derivatives contracts of Indiabulls Housing and BHEL stood at 86.7% and 85.7% of their MWPL on Wednesday. Manappuram and ZEEL were retained on the list as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 83.5% and 83.6%, respectively, on September 20. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Wednesday, September 20. Hindustan Copper was added to the list on Thursday as the open interest of its F&O contracts touched 96.3%.

The ban will be lifted once the position falls below 80%. Traders will get penalised for buying or selling these securities. They will be available for trading in the cash market.

The open interest for the F&O contracts of REC Ltd and the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) 

declined below the 80% limit to 77.3% and 77.9%, respectively. They, hence, were exited from the list on Thursday. 

The National Stock Exchange updates the list of securities on the F&O ban list daily. This list serves as a guide for traders and investors in the market. Traders who trade in indices do not encounter a situation of security ban.