Sebi clears BSE146;s weekly options plan

In a move to resurrect its near-dead futures and options F038;O business, the country8217;s oldest exchange has planned to introduce weekly stock options product.

Currently, the F038;O turnover of BSE is virtually zero compared with the Rs 7,497 crore F038;O turnover on the National Stock Exchange NSE, on Friday.

To start with, the market regulator has permitted BSE to introduce stock option contracts in 10 stocks, which includes a Sensex option. All these are currently part of the BSE8217;s monthly F038;O segment.

A senior BSE official said: 8216;8216;We will probably start the weekly stock options product from September. To begin with, we would be issuing two contracts 8212; one weekly settlement series and the second fortnightly series, in the index options and stock options product8217;8217;.

However, after the settlement of the first weekly option series, BSE will issue options contract both index options and stock options every Monday and the cycle for all these options contracts would be for two weeks.

The weekly stock options are expected to narrow down the premium currently prevailing in the monthly contracts.