Sensex, Nifty End Sharply Lower As Banks, Adani Group Stocks Tumble

(RTTNews) - The Indian market tumbled on Friday as Adani group shares and several bank stocks fell sharply on sustained selling right through the day's session.

Adani group stocks plunged for the second consecutive day, weighed down by a report from Hindenburg Research that accused the group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

Concerns about the debt of Adani firms and the possible impact of such debt on the Indian banking sector triggered a sell-off in the banking space.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 874.16 points or 1.45% at 59,330.90, after plummeting to a low of 58,974.70 intraday.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty settled at 17,604.35, losing 287.60 points or 1.61%. The index dropped to a low of 17,493.55 intraday.

Adani Enterprises Ltd shares plunged 18.3%. The company's huge Rs 20,000 crore FPO opened for subscription today.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone tanked 15.2%. Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas and Adani Green Energy, fell 20%. Adani Power and Adani Wilmar, both ended 5% down.

Bank of Baroda plunged more than 7%. PNB, State Bank of India, UCO Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, IOB, Union Bank of India, Central Bank, Indian Bank ICICI Bank and IndusInd Bank fell 3.9 to 6%. Kotak Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank also ended sharply lower.

Tech Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HDFC, Asian Paints, Infosys, ONGC, BPCL, Hindalco and Hero Motocorp were among the other major losers in the session.

Tata Motors rallied 6.25%. The company eported consolidated net profit of Rs 2,958 crore for the October - December quarter, as against net loss of Rs 1,516 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Bajaj Auto surged 6% after reporting a 23% increase in standalone net profit at Rs 1,491 crore for the quarter ended December 2022.

Dr Reddy's Laboratories gained about 2.7% on strong results. The pharma major said its net profit rose as much as 77% in the December quarter over the year-ago quarter.

ITC, Cipla and Divi's Laboratories also closed sharply higher, while Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, UPL and Mahindra & Mahindra posted modest gains.

The market breadth was very weak. On BSE, as many as 2,671 stocks ended in negative territory. 887 stocks moved higher, and 100 stocks settled flat.