Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, thirteen stocks were banned from trade on Wednesday, February 14, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Aditya Birla Fashion, Ashok Leyland, Aurobindo Pharma, Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Biocon Ltd, Delta Corp, India Cements, Indus Towers, National Aluminium Co, Punjab National Bank (PNB), 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 Tuesday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 84.8% and 92.6%, respectively. Indus Towers and India Cements saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 102.2% and 89.1% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

Aurobindo Pharma’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 85.2% of its MWPL on February 13, compared to 87% for Delta Corp. The open interest for Balrampur Chini’s derivative contracts stood at 86.2% of its MWPL at Tuesday’s closing time, while that of ZEEL was 96.3%. 

The combined open interest for SAIL’s derivatives contracts stood at 86.6% of its MWPL on February 13, while that for Bandhan Bank was 98.8%. At Tuesday’s closing time, the open interest for Biocon and PNB’s derivatives contracts was 83% and 82.5% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Tuesday, February 13. National Aluminium was added to the list on Wednesday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 98.1%.  

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 Hindustan Copper declined below the 80% limit to 78.4%. Hence, it was exited from the list on Wednesday. 

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.