BSE, capital market service provider shares fall amid report that SEBI may link options and cash exposure

Shares of the Asia's oldest stock exchange BSE dropped as much as 7.53% to hit an intraday low of ₹2,437.70 on the National Stock Exchange after a report suggested that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to link options and cash exposure.

Shares of other capital market services providers like Angel One dropped 6%, Nuvama Wealth shares fell declined 0.7%, Motilal Oswal declined 0.5%, 5Paisa Capital declined 1.64% and Dhani Services declined 1.29%.

The move will lead to higher premiums for options resulting in higher margin requirement, said Kunal Harsh an independent market analyst.

Shares of capital market service providers including BSE have been facing selling pressure since last Friday after market regulator barred Jane Street Group and its associated entities from accessing Indian markets. Shares of BSE have since fallen as much as 11.45%.

In a move to protect retail investors and curb their participation in F&O segment, SEBI last year announced higher upfront margin requirement and curtailed weekly expiries to mitigate losses for retail investors.

Meanwhile, in a report released on Monday, July 7, SEBI said that retail investors in India lost nearly ₹1.10 lakh crore in derivative trading in financial year 2024-25, which was 41% higher than the loss they incurred in financial year 2023-24.

A quarterly breakdown for FY25 revealed a sharp drop in the number of unique traders, falling from 61.4 lakh in Q1 to 42.7 lakh in Q4, aligning with the implementation of new regulatory measures.

While aggregate net losses and average losses per trader climbed steadily through the first three quarters, both indicators saw a modest improvement in Q4. However, the proportion of traders incurring losses remained elevated, staying above 86% throughout the year.

As of 12:01 pm, BSE shares traded 6.13% lower at 2,474, underperforming the NIFTY50 index which was trading on a flat note.