Under the futures and options (F&O) segment, fifteen stocks were banned from trade on Friday, February 23, by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The securities banned for the F&O trade are Aditya Birla Fashion Retail, Ashok Leyland, Balrampur Chini Mills, Bandhan Bank, Biocon Ltd, GMR Airports Infra, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals (GNFC), Hindustan Copper, Indus Towers, National Aluminium Co, Piramal Enterprises, PVR Inox, RBL Bank, 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. 

Biocon and Balrampur Chini were retained on the list from Thursday as the open interest as a percentage of the MWPL of their F&O contracts stood at 84.6% and 96.1%, respectively. Hindustan Copper’s derivative contracts’ open interest was 81.7% of its MWPL on February 22, compared to 82.8% for National Aluminium. 

Indus Towers and Bandhan Bank saw the open interest for their F&O contracts touch 91.9% and 80.5% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. At Thursday’s closing time, the open interest for PVR Inox and Piramal’s derivatives contracts was 90.6% and 90.1% of their respective MWPLs, respectively. 

The open interest for RBL Bank’s derivative contracts stood at 92.7% of its MWPL at Thursday’s closing time, while that of ZEEL was 84.6%. The combined open interest for the derivatives contracts of GMR Infra and GNFC each stood at 84.6% and 86.6% of their MWPL, respectively, on February 22. 

All the above securities were retained on the list from Thursday, February 22. Aditya Birla Fashion and SAIL were added to the list on Friday as the open interest of their F&O contracts reached 98.7% and 99.1%, 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 F&O contracts of the Canara Bank and India Cements declined below the 80% limit to 78.4% and 78.5%, respectively. 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.