Markets fall in morning trade, react to Adani Group’s U-turn in share sale

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 2 (ANI): Domestic markets opened with losses on Thursday a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget in Parliament.

The shares of Adani Group firms continued to be volatile today as shares of its flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, went down 10 per cent to Rs 1,921.85 apiece against yesterday’s closing. Key indices BSE Sensex went down 383 points to 59,595.31 while NSE Nifty50 also lost 45 points to 17,616.30 at 9.30 am this morning.

Among the most active stocks, Welspun, BCG, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, Barbeque-Nation Hospitality were the gainers on BSE. Adani Green, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas and BirlaSoft were among the laggards in today’s opening session.
In Asian markets, stocks were looking up as Japan’s Nikkei went up 44 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 99 points while China’s Shanghai was also trading in the green.

In US markets, Dow Jones surged 6 points, Nasdaq rose 231 points while S&P went up 42 points as the Asian markets opened on Thursday. In European markets, Deutsche Borse was up 52 points, CAC was trading in the green, FTSE 250 surged around 45 points while IBEX 35 went up 64 points.

The volatility with Adani Group firms continued today after the Board of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) decided not to go-ahead with the fully subscribed Follow-on Public Offer (FPO). Yesterday, the company said that given the unprecedented situation and the current market volatility, it “aims to protect the interest of its investing community by returning the FPO proceeds and withdraws the completed transaction”.

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani addressed investors said it would not be “morally correct” to go ahead with the Rs 20,000-crore share in the current market condition. The U-turn of the conglomerate is expected to influence investors’ sentiments.

Speaking on the lines of Adani Group stocks, V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “The excessive volatility triggered by the crash in Adani stocks will die down after sometime. FIIs (foreign institutional investors) will have to invest in India if they are to benefit from the India Growth Story.”

While speaking on recovery he added that, “the situation in the mother market of the US is slowly improving. The expected reduction in rate hike to 25bp and the slightly less hawkish commentary are positive for global equity markets. Investors may do calibrated buying in high-quality large-caps. IT and capital goods stocks are on a strong wicket.”

Yesterday, the key equity indices went on a roller-coaster ride to eventually end the session with tepid gains. The Nifty ended a tad below 17,650 mark after hitting the day’s high at 17,972.20 in afternoon trade. Sensex rose and settled 158 points up on Wednesday.

After Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech on Union Budget on Thursday, investors cheered after the central government announced a slew of measures to boost capital expenditure spending in country while simultaneously providing relief to highest taxpayers, all this coupled with reigning the fiscal deficit to below 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26. Sensex bounced more than 1,000 points yesterday while still being volatile.