BSE to revise F&O lots from April 1

The BSE has decided to revise the market lot of the Futures & Options (F&O) contracts of 23 scrips from April 1, 2005. As a result, the outstanding positions in the near, middle and far month F&O contracts (with the existing market lot) of four scrips i-flex, Maruti, Polaris and Dr Reddy's shall be compulsorily expired on March 31, 2005.

The market lot of these four scrips has doubled from the existing market lot, while in case of the other 19 scrips, the market lot is halved from the existing lot. The revised market lot of ACC has changed from existing 1500 to 750, Grasim from 350 to 175, HDFC from 600 to 300 and ICICI Bank from 1400 to 700.

The circular said, "Since the last revision in March 2004, there has been a significant price movement over a period of one year in the underlying scrips. This has resulted in the minimum contract value (based on the existing market lots) increasing beyond the minimum contract size of Rs 2 lakh and falling below in case of few scrips."

As a result, the market lot of 23 underlying scrips would be revised from April 1, 2005."