MUMBAI: A single entity took a sizeable exposure to Bank of India (BoI) derivatives on Monday, when the lender posted its second-quarter results.

Data from the NSE reveals that a single client, Client 1, took a position equal to 3.35 per cent of the marketwide position limit (5.89 crore shares) in BoI on November 12, when the bank posted its second quarter results. While the nature of this position is unknown what is of interest is that Client 1 initiated it intraday November 12, even as NSE broadcast the result four minutes after market closing on that date. The position could be a punt or a hedge as foreign portfolio investors hold 1.08 per cent equity capital of the bank.

Other holders include mutual funds (1.1 per cent) and high networth investors (0.33 per cent).

The government owns 83.09 per cent of the bank. BoI posted a loss of Rs 1,156.2 crore in the second quarter against a profit of Rs 179 crore year-ago. Higher non-performing assets year-on-year which caused it to tank on Tuesday by almost 7 per cent to Rs 81.20 a share.

The November futures contract witnessed open interest jumping almost by a fifth to 2.3 crore shares. The low free float meant that huge speculation rocked the counter with shares delivered being just 8.34 per cent of the quantity traded on Tuesday.

This meant lot of the positions were squared off intraday. Huge shorts were created in near month options, which is evident from the open interest put call ratio (PCR) declining to 0.4 Tuesday from 0.48 a day before – a sign that more calls were sold than puts, which is a bearish indicator.