BSE F&O turnover down 49% from record high

After having overtaken its rival NSE in the equity derivatives turnover on Tuesday, BSE's trading in the segment halved to Rs 1.71 lakh crore today.

With a sudden spike in trade volume of three Sensex option contracts, BSE yesterday had recorded Futures & Options (F&O) turnover of Rs 3.36 lakh crore - higher than that of its bigger rival NSE (Rs 3.29 lakh crore) for the first time.

At the end of today's trading, the total F&O turnover on the BSE stood at Rs 1.71 lakh crore, a decline of 49% over yesterday.

Of this, index options represented 99.8% share of the turnover. The 'put' contracts in index option segment recorded Rs 1.11 lakh crore turnover.

NSE, on the other hand, recorded higher F&O turnover at 2.44 lakh crore compared to the BSE. This included Rs 1.58 lakh crore from index options.

The movements have come ahead of the expiry of this month's derivative contracts tomorrow.

An option is a derivative contract which provides for the holder of this contract a right to buy or sell a security at a later date on specified terms.

There are mainly two types of option contracts -- calls and puts. Call option gives its holder a right to purchase an underlying security at a specified price till its expiry.

A put option meanwhile gives its holder right to sell an underlying security at a specified level. Put options can be exercised at any time before the expiry.