Adani Group shares hold gains in weak market as SC grants Sebi more time

The Supreme Court on Wednesday also directed the government and Sebi to look into whether there has been any violation of law by Hindenburg Research on short-selling.

Shares of Adani group companies continued to hold gains in intra-day deals on Wednesday after the Supreme Court granted the market regulator, Sebi, three more months to complete its investigation.

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, said that there were no grounds for taking away the investigation of the Adani group of companies in the Hindenburg report from the markets regulator. It granted the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) three months to complete the investigation of two pending matters.

The Court also said that the Centre and Sebi will look into whether there has been any violation of law by Hindenburg Research on short-selling.

Earlier in the day, shares of Adani group companies rallied up to 12 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday's intra-day trade as the Supreme Court is expected to announce its verdict in the Adani-Hindenburg case.
 

According to Business Standard report, the Supreme Court on Wednesday will pronounce its judgement on a batch of petitions seeking a court-monitored investigation into the allegations made by US-based firm Hindenburg Research against the Adani group of companies regarding violations of the stock market. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT

Among individual stocks, Adani Energy Solutions surged 12 per cent to Rs 1,193.05, while Adani Total Gas soared 10 per cent to Rs 1,100, followed by Adani Green Energy (9 per cent at Rs 1,740), New Delhi Television (9 per cent at Rs 296), Adani Wilmar (7 per cent at Rs 391), Adani Enterprises (6 per cent at Rs 3,094.85), Adani Power (5 per cent at Rs 544.65), Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone (4 per cent at Rs 1,117.10), Ambuja Cements (2 per cent at Rs 541.45) and ACC (2 per cent at Rs 2,305). In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.23 per cent at 71,723 at 09:311 AM.

Adani Enterprises in its FY23 annual report said that a US-based short seller report was a combination of targeted misinformation and outdated, discredited allegations aimed at damaging the reputation and generating profits through a deliberate drive-down of the group firms stock prices.

“Even though we promptly issued a comprehensive rebuttal, various vested interests tried to opportunistically exploit the claims made by the short seller. These entities engaged and encouraged false narratives across various news and social media platforms,” Adani group's flagship company said.

Consequently, the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India constituted an Expert Committee to look into this matter. It comprised individuals known for their independence and integrity. The report of the Expert Committee was made public in May 2023. The expert committee in its report had found no prima facie lapse on the part of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the matter.

While reserving the verdict, the Supreme Court had said it has no reason to "discredit" SEBI, which probed allegations against the Adani group, as there was no material before it to doubt what the market regulator has done and the court does not have to treat what was set out in the Hindenburg report as a "true state of affairs".