Adani Group shares fall drastically after new allegations; The market also slipped, Sensex-Nifty crashed
New Delhi| Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell in early trade on Thursday amid a sharp fall in Adani Group shares and continued withdrawal of foreign funds. The market also declined during early trade due to weak trend from Asian counterparts.
BSE Sensex fell 468.17 points to 77,110.21 in early trade. Whereas NSE’s Nifty fell by 179.75 points to 23,338.75 points. Among Sensex stocks with 30 shares, Adani Ports fell by 10 per cent. Billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by U.S. prosecutors for his role in an alleged scheme to bribe Indian officials with USD 250 million in exchange for favorable terms for solar power contracts.
Other shares of Adani Group, including Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions, also fell sharply in early trade. State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, NTPC and Tata Motors were also among the lagging stocks. Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra benefited. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,411.73 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong recorded a decline, while Seoul recorded a rise. US markets closed in a mostly positive range. Brent crude, the global oil standard, rose 0.25 percent to $72.99 a barrel. Indian stock markets remained closed on Wednesday due to assembly elections in Maharashtra. BSE’s benchmark Sensex closed at 77,578.38 on Tuesday, up 239.37 points, or 0.31 per cent, after four days of decline. After the decline of the last seven trading days, Nifty also rose on Tuesday. It closed at 23,518.50, climbing 64.70 points, or 0.28 percent.
Shares of Adani Group companies fell as much as 20% on Thursday after billionaire Gautam Adani and seven others were charged in a billion-dollar bribery and fraud scheme in the U.S. Prosecutors announced the charges on Wednesday, alleging that the group bribed Indian officials to obtain solar power contracts. Shares of Adani Energy Solutions were the hardest hit and they fell 20%. Adani Green shares were down about 18% while Adani Total Gas and Adani Power fell 13-14%. On the other hand, Adani Enterprises, Ambuja Cements, ACC and Adani Ports closed with 10% lower circuit. NDTV shares were down 11% while Adani Wilmar saw a fall of 8% and newly acquired Sanghi Industries 6%.
