Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, eight stocks were banned from trade on Thursday, 21 March, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd, Biocon, Hindustan Copper, Indus Towers Limited, Piramal Enterprises, RBL Bank Limited, 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 Thursday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 94.6% and 83.3%. Biocon’s derivative contracts’ open interest is 89.4% of its MWPL on 21 March, compared to 81.8% for Hindustan Copper, 83.5% for Piramal Enterprises, 90.9% for Indus Towers, and 82.7% for RBL Bank.

The above securities were retained on the list from Wednesday, 20 March. Tata Chemicals was added to the list on Thursday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 96.6%.

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 BHEL and Steel Authority of India (SAIL), declined below 80% limit to 79% and 79.5%, respectively. Hence, it was exited from the list on Thursday.

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.