Sharp sell-off in Adani Group stocks as Sensex, Nifty tumble

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled on Thursday amid a sharp fall in Adani group stocks after billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani was charged in the US for alleged bribery and fraud.

Besides, relentless foreign fund outflows and weak trends in Asian and European peers also dragged benchmark indices lower.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tanked 422.59 points or 0.54 per cent to settle at 77,155.79. During the day, it lost 775.65 points or 0.99 per cent to 76,802.73.

Adani Green scraps $600 mn bond sale

• Adani Green Energy Ltd, the renewable energy arm of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, on Thursday scrapped a $600 million bond issue after its promoter was charged in an alleged bribery case in the US.
• Hours before US prosecutors charged Gautam Adani and associates with participating in a scheme to pay over $250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts, the firm sold a 20-year green bond in the US-investment-grade market.

Kenya Prez cancels airport, energy deals

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• Kenya’s president said Thursday he has cancelled multimillion-dollar airport expansion and energy deals with Indian tycoon Gautam Adani after US bribery and fraud indictments against one of Asia’s richest men.

• President William Ruto said the decision was made “based on new information provided by our investigative agencies and partner nations.” He didn’t specify the US.

As many as 2,736 stocks declined, while 1,237 advanced and 92 remained unchanged on the BSE. The NSE Nifty slumped 168.60 points or 0.72 per cent to 23,349.90.

“From the 30-share Sensex pack, Adani Ports tumbled over 13 per cent after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million bribes to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

All other Adani group stocks, including Adani Enterprises, Adani Energy Solutions, Adani Ports and Adani Green Energy, fell sharply by up to nearly 23 per cent.

State Bank of India, NTPC, ITC, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv were also among the major laggards.