IRCTC and 8 other stocks under F&O ban today

New Delhi: Shares of Vodafone Idea, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Sun TV, BHEL, National Aluminium, Escorts and Amara Raja Batteries continue to be in the futures and options (F&O) ban for trade by the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

In addition, scrips like IRCTC and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have also been added to the F&O ban list by the stock exchange, increasing the total number of shares in the ban list to nine.

NSE is mandated to put any stock where the market wide position limit (MWPL) crosses 95 per cent under a temporary F&O ban till the positions in the contract come below 80 per cent. NSE said the derivative contracts in the mentioned securities have crossed 95 per cent of the market-wide position limit and have, therefore, been put under the ban.

For speculators who have been taking long positions, F&O ban is bad news as they will end up giving up a lot of their paper profits because traders will only be allowed to liquidate existing positions and not take new positions.

IRCTC tanked over 18 per cent during early trade on Wednesday to slip to Rs 4,371.25. The scrip declined 9 per cent to settle at Rs 5,363 apiece on Tuesday. The scrip has shed 32 per cent from its 52-week high of Rs 6,393 scaled on October 19.