Sensex, Nifty decline in early trade; Adani group stocks slump          

Mumbai, August 12

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday as investors turned cautious about the potential disruptions from the US short-seller Hindenburg Research report on SEBI chairperson and her husband's undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 375.79 points to 79,330.12 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 108.25 points to 24,259.25.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports, NTPC, Power Grid, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Titan were the biggest laggards.

All 10 Adani group stocks declined in early trade, with Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas and Adani Power trading significantly lower.

Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani - the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani - to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg's latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted "character assassination".

Asian Paints, JSW Steel, Tata Motors and Maruti were among the gainers from the blue-chip pack.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.