Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, twelve stocks were banned from trade on Friday, February 16, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Aditya Birla Fashion, Ashok Leyland, Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Biocon Ltd, Canara Bank, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, India Cements, Indus Towers, Steel Authority Of India (SAIL) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (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. 

Ashok Leyland and Aditya Birla Fashion were retained on the list from Thursday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 83.1% and 87.1%, respectively. Indus Towers and India Cements saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 100.1% and 87.9% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

Hindustan Copper’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 94.4% of its MWPL on February 15, compared to 84.8% for Delta Corp. The open interest for Balrampur Chini’s derivative contracts stood at 84.8% of its MWPL at Thursday’s closing time, while that of ZEEL was 93.7%. 

The combined open interest for SAIL’s derivatives contracts stood at 82.7% of its MWPL on February 15. At Thursday’s closing time, the open interest for Biocon and Bandhan Bank’s derivatives contracts was 81.8% and 93.5% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Thursday, February 15. Canara Bank was added to the list on Friday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 100.7%.  

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 Aurobindo Pharma, National Aluminium Co. and Punjab National Bank (PNB) declined below the 80% limit. Hence, they were exited from the list on Friday. 

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.