Jefferies Downgrades BSE Stock on Regulatory and Derivatives Headwinds
Shares of BSE declined as much as 5% to their day's low of Rs 3,283 on the NSE on Monday after Wall Street major Jefferies downgraded the counter to 'underperform' from 'hold' and trimmed the target price to Rs 2,940 from Rs 3,520, a downside of 16% from current levels. Jefferies said BSE's revenue exposure to domestic proprietary traders, which account for roughly half of equity-options notional turnover, faces pressure from three developments: a higher securities transaction tax, tighter Reserve Bank of India bank-guarantee rules and the introduction of the Closing Auction Session, or CAS. BSE's options average daily turnover in August 2026 so far is down 12% from July. Following the downgrades by Jefferies and Nuvama Institutional Equities, shares of stock exchange BSE fell for the fifth consecutive trading session, ending at ₹3,308 on Tuesday, lower by 0.7 per cent. The share has fallen to a four-month low, the lowest since April 13. Jefferies has cut its FY27-29 EPS estimates for BSE by 5-12%, citing expectations of slower average daily turnover (ADTO) growth and higher clearing costs.