Stock Futures On The Fast Track, Volumes Zoom

The outstanding position in 31 individual stock futures has steadily increased from Rs 41.59 crore on November 9, the first day of futures trading in India, to Rs 307.49 crore on November 27, 2001. The aggregate daily traded volume during the period increased from 36.03 lakh shares to 212.20 lakh shares.

The first settlement of individual stock futures is scheduled tomorrow (November 29) and the volumes that have been generated in this segment have made the derivatives market more liquid.

The volume in stock futures has been rising ever since it was introduced. The aggregate traded volume soared to over Rs 120 crore on the fifth day after futures trading was introduced, with volumes aggregating 90.04 lakh shares. The outstanding reached the Rs 200 crore mark on November 21, with outstanding volumes soaring to 156.78 lakh shares.

The futures segment of the both the NSE and BSE are witnessing a surge in trading activity as retail investors are gradually increasing their hedging positions against the cash market, dealers said.

Futures trading on the National Stock Exchange accounts for 97.4 per cent of the total traded volumes. The outstanding on NSE increased from Rs 38.59 crore to Rs 299.09 crore while the BSE saw traded volumes moving up from Rs 3.10 crore to Rs 8.40 crore on November 27.

The top ten traded stocks account for 79 per cent of the total outstanding value with Infosys Technologies topping the list with outstanding value of Rs 36.02 crore.

Satyam Computer ranked second with outstanding value of Rs 35.99 crore. Reliance Petroleum with outstanding value of Rs 27.64 crore is in the third position. Dr Reddy's Laboratories stands fourth, with outstandings of Rs 26.68 crore while ACC ranked fifth with Rs 23.67 crore.

But Reliance Petroleum was most favoured stock on which the largest numbers of contracts are outstanding. As of November 27, the counter had outstanding contracts covering 78.64 shares, accounting for 39.8 per cent of the total volume. Telco futures ranked second with volume of 17.72 lakh shares while Satyam Computer at thirds place with volume of 16.86 lakh shares.