Mumbai: MCX is in discussions with its software vendor, 63 moons, to tweak its software to allow zero or negative pricing on the system.

The move has been necessitated by the negative settlement rate of the April crude contract which expired this Monday, tracking front month crude on Nymex, which closed at (-) $37.63 a barrel for the first time in history on Monday. “We are in discussions (with our software vendor) to facilitate negative pricing on the system to deal with such situations in future,” said an MCX official.

Brokers representing clients’ long April crude futures have opposed the negative due date rate on grounds that zero or negative quotes cannot be handled by the MCX system currently and also that it turned negative after the exchange closed at 5 pm. Large brokers, including Motilal Oswal, have filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against MCX. A senior executive at Motilal Oswal said the case may be taken up for admission on Thursday, adding that another broker had filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court.

MCX in a release justified its stand saying that global bourses settled it at (-)$37.63. It added that the pay-in and payout, including the settlement of April 20 crude contract, had been completed and a payout of ₹242.32 crore has been made.