Adani group stocks nosedive; Adani Enterprises tumble over 28%

New Delhi: Shares of Adani Group firms slumped on Wednesday and have lost more than Rs 7 lakh crore of their combined market capitalisation in the last five trading sessions amid concerns over US-based short seller Hindenburg Research's report.

The decline is about 38 per cent compared to the market valuation at the end of trading on January 24, the day when the report was released.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after Hindenburg in the report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, at the Gautam Adani-led group.

At the end of Wednesday's trading session, all the group companies settled in negative territory with shares of three companies hit their lowest price band.

Shares of Adani Enterprises nosedived 28.45 per cent to close at Rs 2,128.70 on the BSE despite the company's Rs 20,000-crore share sale sailed through on the last day on Tuesday after non-retail investors bid in big volumes. There was, however, a muted response from retail investors and company employees.

The share sale opened on January 24.

The counter of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone plunged 19.69 per cent, Adani Total Gas slumped 10 per cent, Adani Green Energy declined 5.78 per cent, Adani Wilmar fell 4.99 per cent, Adani Wilmar went down 4.99 per cent, Adani Power dropped 4.98 per cent and Adani Transmission (2.46 per cent) In addition, Ambuja Cements tanked 16.56 per cent, while ACC dropped 6.34 per cent and NDTV went down 4.98 per cent.

The Adani group stocks (including Ambuja, ACC and NDTV) have lost more than Rs 7 lakh crore or about 38 per cent of their combined market cap in the last five trading sessions, Manish Chowdhury, head of research at Stoxbox, said.

"With investors hoping for a breather following the successful closure of the Adani Enterprises FPO yesterday, it was another shocker when news emerged today that Credit Suisse has stopped accepting bonds of Adani group as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients. With several questions being raised about the group, it looks prudent to stay away from these companies till the dust settles," he added.

Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended on a mixed note after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade in Budget 2023-24.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 158.18 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 59,708.08. In contrast, the broader NSE Nifty declined 45.85 points or 0.26 per cent to end at 17,616.30.