SC directs Sebi to probe Adani; group stocks hold gains amid heavy volumes

The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday has directed the market regulator SEBI to carry out a detailed probe and submit its findings in two months.

The apex court has constituted a expert committee for the probe, which shall be headed by retired judge Justice Sapre. The other committee members are OP Bhatt, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani, Somsekhar Sundaresan.

As per the SC order, SEBI has asked to probe if there are violations of the Securities Act. Sebi must also probe if whether there is violation of norms on manipulation of share pricesm and a failure to disclose related party transactions. READ ABOUT IT HERE

Following the SC order select shares of Adani Group trimmed gains., as of 11:25 AM - Adani Enterprises was up a per cent at Rs 1,580 as against the day's high of Rs 1,646. Adani Ports was up 0.4 per cent at Rs 604, from a high of Rs 617 on the BSE.

However, shares of Adani Power, Adani Green, Adani Transmission and Adani Wilmar were locked at their respective 5 per cent upper limits.

Stock moves

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, four stocks from the Adani Group namely - Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (SEZ) have seen shares worth of over Rs 15,000 crore changing hands via block deals on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE on Thursday in opening deals.

At 09:15 AM; Adani Enterprises, the Group's flagship company, saw around 38.96 million equity shares (3.4 per cent of total equity) worth of around Rs 5,487 crore change hands on the BSE, the exchange data shows.

Adani Ports and SEZ’s witnessed a block trade of around 88.6 million shares changed hands on the NSE, representing 4.1 per cent of total equity shares of the company amounting to Rs 5,282 crore.

Similarly, Adani Green Energy (55.6 million shares or 3.5 per cent of total equity) and Adani Transmission (28.4 million shares or 2.54 per cent stake) saw equity shares worth of Rs 2,806 crore and Rs 1,898 crore, respectively, change hands on the NSE.

The names of the buyers and sellers were not ascertained immediately.

At 10:25 AM, these four stocks were seen trading higher in the range of 1 per cent to 5 per cent on the NSE. In comparison, the Nifty 50 was down 0.51 per cent at 17,361.

Since the US-based short seller Hindenburg Research released its report in January, the Adani Group stocks have taken a beating. The group's total market cap has eroded by over $130 billion. According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Gautam Adani's wealth has diminished by $77.5 billion in 2023 alone. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT