Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, eight stocks were banned from trade on Friday, December 15, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Balrampur Chini Mills, Delta Corp, Hindustan Copper, India Cements, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Manappuram Finance, Steel Authority Of India Ltd (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. 

The open interest for the derivative contracts of Hindustan Copper stood at 100.8% of its MWPL at Thursday’s closing time, while that of India Cements was 90.5%. Indiabulls Housing and ZEEL saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 80.1% and 90.9% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

Delta Corp and Balrampur Chini were retained on the list as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 83.9% and 110.9%, respectively, on December 14. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Thursday, December 14. Manappuram Finance and SAIL were added to the list on Friday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 106.5% and 119.5%, 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 National Aluminium Co declined below the 80% limit to 73.1%. 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.