Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, seven stocks were banned from trade on Friday, 22 March, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, Biocon, Indus Towers Limited, Piramal Enterprises, Steel Authority of India, Tata Chemicals, and Zee Entertainment Enterprise 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.

Balrampur Chini Mills and Zee Entertainment were retained on the list from Friday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 85.5% and 82.9%. Biocon’s derivative contracts’ open interest is 86.6% of its MWPL on 22 March, compared to 80.1% for Piramal Enterprises, 88.3% for Indus Towers, and 88.8% for Tata Chemicals.

The above securities were retained on the list from Wednesday, 20 March. Steel Authority of India was added to the list on Friday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 103.8%.

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 F&O contracts of Hindustan Copper and RBL Bank Limited declined below the 80% limit to 79% and 78.9%, respectively. Hence, they were removed 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.