Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, twelve stocks were banned from trade on Friday, February 9, 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, National Aluminium Co, Punjab National Bank (PNB), Steel Authority Of India (SAIL) and UPL 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 Thursday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 93.6% and 91.9%, respectively. Indus Towers and India Cements saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 107.9% and 99.6% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

National Aluminium’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 81.7% of its MWPL on February 7, compared to 96.9% for Delta Corp. The open interest for Balrampur Chini’s derivative contracts stood at 95.3% of its MWPL at Thursday’s closing time, while that of UPL Ltd was 83.8%. The combined open interest for SAIL’s derivatives contracts stood at 103.5% of its MWPL on February 8. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Thursday, February 8. Aurobindo Pharma, Biocon and PNB were added to the list on Friday as the open interest of its F&O contracts reached 95.2%, 101.6% and 97.2%, respectively. 

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 Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) declined below the 80% limit to 77.4%. Hence, it was 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.