Sensex, Nifty decline in early trade; Adani group stocks slump

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Monday as investors turned cautious about the potential disruptions from the US short-seller Hindenburg Research report on SEBI chairperson and her husband's undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius.

The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 375.79 points to 79,330.12 in early trade. The NSE Nifty dropped 108.25 points to 24,259.25.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports, NTPC, Power Grid, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and Titan were the biggest laggards.

All 10 Adani group stocks declined in early trade, with Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas and Adani Power trading significantly lower.

Hindenburg Research had on Saturday alleged that SEBI chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband had undisclosed investments in obscure offshore funds in Bermuda and Mauritius, the same entities allegedly used by Vinod Adani - the elder brother of group chairman Gautam Adani - to round-trip funds and inflate stock prices.

Buch and her husband issued a statement calling Hindenburg's latest tirade as an attack on the credibility of SEBI and attempted "character assassination".

"In Friday’s trade, Nifty staged a strong recovery following recent losses, marking a significant rebound. Despite the improved market sentiment, investors remain cautious about potential disruptions, especially with the looming Hindenburg Research report from the US," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

Asian Paints, JSW Steel, Tata Motors and Maruti were among the gainers from the blue-chip pack.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory while Shanghai quoted lower.

The US markets ended higher on Friday.

"Domestically, there is the Hindenburg report and it's likely to fall out. It appears that this "revelation" is unlikely to impact the market meaningfully," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Friday after days of offloading equities. They bought equities worth Rs 406.72 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.10 per cent to USD 79.74 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark bounced back 819.69 points or 1.04 per cent to settle at 79,705.91 on Friday. The NSE Nifty soared 250.50 points or 1.04 per cent to 24,367.50.