Adani stocks rally as SC-appointed panel finds no evidence in price manipulation

Stocks across the Adani stable rallied on Tuesday, with Adani Enterprises rising nearly 18 per cent, after a Supreme Court-appointed panel found no evidence of stock in price manipulation in the group companies. A Sebi probe into alleged breach of money flows from offshore entities also drew a blank.

Adani Enterprises’ stock went up 17.65 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

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Shares of Adani Wilmar gained 9.99 per cent, Adani Ports jumped 7.71 per cent, Adani Power rose 5 per cent, Adani Transmission, Adani Green and Adani Total Gas gained 5 per cent each and NDTV saw a 4.99 per cent rise.

The stocks of Ambuja Cements went up 4 per cent and ACC climbed 2.87 per cent.

Some group stocks also hit their upper circuit limits during the morning trade.

The 30-share BSE benchmark shot up 238.21 points or 0.38 per cent to quote at 62,201.89 in morning trade.

Apex court

Adani Group stocks have been rallying since Friday.

The six-member Supreme Court panel said there was evidence of a build-up in short positions on Adani Group stocks ahead of the report of US-based short seller Hindenburg Research that alleged fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering at the apples-to-port group.

Profits were earned from squaring off positions after prices crashed post-publication of the damning allegations.

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The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice AM Sapre, in its 173-page report said that based on the data from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), it saw “no evident pattern of manipulation” in the steep stock price rise in billionaire Gautam Adani’s companies that can be attributed to “any single entity or group of connected entities”.

It was not possible to conclude whether there had been regulatory failures regarding price manipulations, the panel said in the report.

After the Hindenburg report stirred a political row and triggered a rout in the conglomerate’s stocks, dethroning Adani as the world’s third richest man, the Supreme Court on March 2 constituted the expert committee to investigate if there was any failure to disclose transactions with related parties and if stock prices were manipulated.

Panel integrity

The committee was to work in parallel with the probe by Sebi into offshore entities investing in Adani Group.

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While the report is not the final word, it certainly comes as a relief for Adani’s empire.

The integrity of the members of the panel must have given confidence to investors to buy the beaten down stocks, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

(With agency inputs)