Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, twelve stocks were banned from trade on Monday, February 12, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Balrampur Chini Mills, Biocon Ltd, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, India Cements, Indus Towers, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Steel Authority Of India (SAIL), UPL Ltd and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.

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. 

Ashok Leyland and Hindustan Copper were retained on the list from Friday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 89.7% and 84.6%, respectively. Indus Towers and India Cements saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 105.2% and 91.6% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

Aurobindo Pharma’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 91.8% of its MWPL on February 9, compared to 91.2% for Delta Corp. The open interest for Balrampur Chini’s derivative contracts stood at 91.2% of its MWPL at Friday’s closing time, while that of UPL Ltd was 81%. 

At Friday’s closing time, the open interest for Biocon and PNB’s derivatives contracts was 88.9% and 88.8% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. The combined open interest for SAIL’s derivatives contracts stood at 96% of its MWPL on February 9. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Friday, February 9. ZEEL was added to the list on Monday as the open interest of its F&O contracts reached 102.7%. 

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 National Aluminium Co declined below the 80% limit to 77.9%. Hence, it was exited from the list on Monday. 

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.