Adani group stocks crash after $250 million bribery allegation in US; drag down Sensex, Nifty

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled in early trade on Thursday amid sharp fall in Adani group stocks and unabated foreign fund outflows.

Weak trends from Asian peers also drove the markets lower during the initial trade.

The BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled 468.17 points to 77,110.21 in early trade. The NSE Nifty declined 179.75 points to 23,338.75.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, Adani Ports tumbled 10 per cent as billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 250 million bribe to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

Other Adani group stocks, including Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy and Adani Energy Solutions, also fell sharply in the early trade.

State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, NTPC and Tata Motors were also among the laggards.

Infosys, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra were the gainers.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,411.73 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded lower while Seoul quoted higher.

The US markets ended mostly in the positive territory.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.25 per cent to USD 72.99 a barrel.

The Indian stock markets were closed on Wednesday due to assembly elections in Maharashtra.

Snapping its four days of decline, the BSE benchmark Sensex had climbed 239.37 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at 77,578.38 on Tuesday. The Nifty also bounced back on Tuesday after falling in the past seven trading days. It went up by 64.70 points or 0.28 per cent to settle at 23,518.50.