NSE excludes 51 stocks from F&O segment

The National Stock Exchange today said it will exclude 51 stocks, including Essar Oil, MTNL and Oil India, from its derivative segment with effect from Friday.

The announcement comes after market regulator Sebi hiked the benchmark liquidity level for scrips to be eligible for trading in the derivatives segments. The move is aimed at checking any manipulation by doing away with illiquid stocks.

Among other stocks which would be excluded are -- BEML, Bharat Electronics, Bosch, Bombay Dyeing, Fortis Healthcare, The Great Eastern Shipping Company, HCC, Jet Airways, TVS Motor Company, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd -- MRPL, Indian Bank and Max India, NSE said in a circular.

In a circular, the exchange said contracts for new expiry months in these securities would not be available for trading after expiry of existing contract months. The move would be effective from July 27.

"However, the existing unexpired contracts for the month of July, August and September 2012 would continue to be available for trading till their respective expiry and new strikes would also be introduced in these existing contract months," it said.

Yesterday, Sebi said the minimum Median Quarter Sigma Order Size (MQSOS) requirement for introduction in derivatives segment has been revised to Rs 10 lakh, from Rs 5 lakh at present.

MQSOS indicates liquidity, or order size in a scrip.

Also the MWPL (market-wide position limit), indicating the size of the company, has been raised to Rs 300 crore, from Rs 100 crore.

It further said shares, which fail to maintain a minimum MWPL requirement of Rs 200 crore, would cease to be in the F&O segment. Earlier this limit was Rs 60 crore.

The scrip would exit the derivative segment, if MQSOS falls below Rs 5 lakh. Earlier this limit was Rs 2 lakh, Sebi said.

Also, to assess the trading depth of a scrip in the derivatives segment, Sebi said the trading stock derivatives should have an average monthly turnover of Rs 100 crore in the last three months.