The Adani Group has shed $108 billion in market value since Hindenburg Research accused it of stock manipulation and accounting fraud in a Jan. 24 report. But it was only when the tycoon scrapped a $2.4 billion share sale this week that the potential for lasting impact became clear. Adani’s rebuttal had failed to reassure investors. Once ranked No. 2 among the world’s wealthiest, he has tumbled to No. 21 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Exchanges is in the process of putting together the trading activity that has happened in Adani companies over the last few days. They will submit their findings to the regulator. "Any unusual trading will be examined by the stock exchanges," said the person quoted above.

The move would see lenders release some of the stock in Adani Group companies that was pledged as collateral, according to the person. The Indian group hasn’t faced margin calls on these pledges and is seeking the prepayment proactively, the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.

Investors were still digesting the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday and comments from Powell, who acknowledged progress in the fight against inflation and appeared reluctant to push back against the rally in stocks and bonds.

The February futures contract of Nifty 50 traded on the Singapore Exchange indicates a positive start to domestic equities. The contract was trading at 17,710, up 71 points or 0.40% from the previous close.

Investors were still digesting the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday and comments from Powell, who acknowledged progress in the fight against inflation and appeared reluctant to push back against the rally in stocks and bonds.

Promoter holding in the bank is 16.51% - IndusInd International Holdings had 12.58% and IndusInd Ltd had 3.92% on December 31, 2022, according to a stock exchange disclosure. "To increase stake in the bank, Hinduja Group may need to infuse ₹10,000-11,000 crore ($1.2-1.3 billion). They may infuse the money by issuing preferential shares," said the person cited above.

He said it is for regulators, markets and the company to address the issue. "The government does not concern itself with the fortunes of individual private sector companies," Somanathan told ET during a post-budget interaction. "We are confident that the public financial institutions are in a very strong position and their exposures to any one private company is not of a magnitude that would create any unease or difficulty for the public financial institutions."

The shares have been on a freefall after an attack last week by short-seller Hindenburg, accusing the group of stock price manipulation. On Wednesday, a day after the successful closure of the FPO, AEL shares lost 28.2% in market value after reports emerged that global banking major Credit Suisse had stopped accepting Adani Group bonds as collateral. The company announced the decision to withdraw the FPO on Wednesday night.

By targeting a fiscal deficit of 5.9% of GDP for FY24 (vs 6.4% for FY23RE), budget has stayed on the committed glide path to below 4.5% by FY26. A lower deficit will also have a salutary effect on government's borrowing costs and is in sync with the RBI's actions to tame inflation.

Under RBI guidelines, NBFC-ULs have to implement a board-approved policy for adopting the enhanced regulatory framework applicable to them and mandatorily list within three years of this. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran met RBI officials in this regard last week, said the people cited above.

Even the seven priorities that have been articulated to guide India through its Amrit Kaal are in sync with the past thrust from this government on areas such as infrastructure, development, financial sector, unleashing the potential of the youth, green growth, and inclusive development that reaches the last mile.

On Thursday, Adani Ports fell 6.1%, Adani Power and Adani Wilmar declined 5% each, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas dropped 10% each. ACC ended almost unchanged over the previous day and Ambuja Cements jumped 5.3% after the Adani Group clarified that no shares of either of the companies have been pledged by promoters and they have only provided so-called, non-disposal undertakings.

Since the slide in prices and spiralling yields of different dollar bonds issued by Adani companies in offshore markets would make it difficult for Adani to raise fresh dollar loans and bonds at a reasonable cost from international investors, the support of local lenders is crucial.

The Supertrend indicator also triggered a ‘buy’ on the daily charts on February 2

"Applicable rate of margin shall be 50% or existing margin, whichever is higher, subject to maximum rate of margin capped at 100% w.e.f (with effect from) Feb 6, 2023 on all open positions as on Feb 3, 2023 and new positions created from Feb 6, 2023," the exchange said in a circular on Thursday.

Exchanges is in the process of putting together the trading activity that has happened in Adani companies over the last few days. They will submit their findings to the regulator. "Any unusual trading will be examined by the stock exchanges," said the person quoted above.

Further, market participants looking to pledge Adani shares with brokers as collateral for trading are being asked to take a bigger haircut in the value of the loans. A haircut is the worth ascribed to an asset by a lender for calculating the collateral value. These steps are part of brokers' attempts to reduce risks for clients and for themselves.

"The central bank has asked all lenders to submit exposure data related to the Adani Group," a senior banker in the know said. "Due to the turmoil in the stocks, the RBI wants to assess if this could lead to a potential problem for the banking system. They are also assessing whether any bank is in breach of the group exposure norms."

Currently, the rating agency has assigned ratings to 23 infrastructure and financial sector-linked entities of the Adani Group

There is an encouraging downward path of inflation in our central projection. But there's a big risk. We've got the biggest risk in our forecast on inflation on the upside that we've ever had," he said

But financial markets immediately interpreted the move as suggesting the tightening cycle might in fact end soon

In a volatile trading session, Indian equity indices closed on a mixed note on Thursday. Nifty settled a tad lower at 17,610, while Sensex rose 224 points to end at 59,932. Among sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal and Nifty Financial Services ended in the red, while all others ended with gains.“Markets remained volatile. Nifty failed to surpass levels of 18,000, while on the flip side it is defending levels of 17,400 on a closing basis. Nifty is likely to remain choppy with immediate support seen between 17,400-17,300 zone. Mixed action among the sectoral indices is expected to continue.“Ideal strategy remains to focus on stocks specific action. FMCG index has outperformed the benchmark index, sustaining to lift the FMCG index towards all-time higher zone. Also stocks specific rally within IT space is possible,” said Amit Trivedi, CMT, Technical Analyst - Institutional Equities, Yes Securities.Here are stock recommendations for Friday:

We would like to clarify that none of the shares of Ambuja or ACC has been pledged by Promoters. The Promoters have only provided a non-disposal undertaking and accordingly, there is no requirement of providing any top-up of shares of Ambuja and ACC or cash top-up under the acquisition financing raised last year

"LTIMindtree has indicated a prominent bullish candle pattern on the daily chart to move past the significant moving averages of 200DMA and 50EMA of 4500 and 4445 levels respectively, to improve the bias and further rise is anticipated in the coming days," Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd, said.

The benchmark index Sensex closed higher by about 224 points to 59,932 on Thursday. During this rally, four stocks from the BSE consumer discretionary index managed to touch new 52-week highs.The 52-week high is the highest price at which a stock has traded during the last year. Some traders and investors use this technical indicator as an important factor for analysing a stock's current value and for predicting its future price movement.

At 22% of overall spending, capital expenditures would be at record high and aid achieving over 6% GDP growth next year

The European Central Bank raised interest rates again Thursday and signalled it would "stay the course" with an identical hike next month, even as the outlook in the eurozone brightens. The ECB lifted its key rates half a percentage point, as widely expected, seeking to curb soaring prices of energy and food fuelled by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Since Jan 25, Adani Enterprises’ share value has more than halved, and Adani Ports has shed more than 39%. Today, Adani Enterprises shares ended 27% lower in the cash market at Rs 1,565.25, and those of Adani Ports settled 7% down at Rs 462.45

The Nasdaq Composite gained 248.83 points, or 2.11%, to 12,065.15 at the opening bell

Adani said the decision to withdraw the FPO will not have any impact on the group's existing operations and future plans. "We will continue to focus on timely execution and delivery of projects."

In another ruling passed on November 2, 2018, the regulator had restrained Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, B Suryanarayana Raju and SRSR Holdings from the securities markets for 14 years. Also, they were asked to disgorge Rs 813 crore of unlawful gains with interest.

Companies say green shoots of rural revival visible

The company is scheduled to announce its earnings for the December quarter on Friday. The sustenance of the current momentum in the stock will hinge upon the earnings scorecard and guidance on price hikes after the tax hike.Markets/Stocks/News

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget speech on Wednesday recognised "offshore derivative instruments (ODIs) as valid contracts" in order to enhance business activities in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

Companies say green shoots of rural revival visible in December

Prices on the daily chart are continuously showing an effort to close above their 200-EMA placed at 17,550 levels. From the past five days, Nifty is hovering within the range of 17,900–17,400 levels. Any breakout or breakdown above or below the mentioned levels will trigger the next directional move in the benchmark index

Seven of the UK central bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee endorsed the hike to 4%, while two voted for no change. The majority said strong pay growth and an ongoing shortage of workers were feeding price pressures in the economy.

SBI to come out with its Q3FY23 numbers. Net Interest Income expected to be Rs 38,000 cr, uptick of 24% YoY; PAT to be Rs 13,500 cr, a solid performance; NPAs expected to be flat. ET NOW's Hersh Sayta explains the numbers.

The state-owned lender's net profit is likely to zoom by a massive 60-70%, compared with the last-year period, while net interest income (NII) too, is expected to grow in healthy double digits.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) are set up as Business Trusts and hold and operate revenue-generating real estate or infrastructure assets, respectively. REITs and InvITs raise funds by issuing units to the public at large.

SBI to come out with its Q3FY23 numbers. Net Interest Income expected to be Rs 38,000 cr, uptick of 24% YoY; PAT to be Rs 13,500 cr, a solid performance; NPAs expected to be flat. ET NOW's Hersh Sayta explains the numbers.

Homegrown FMCG major Dabur India Ltd on Thursday reported a decline of 5.51 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 476.55 crore for the third quarter ended December 2022. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 504.35 crore in the October-December quarter a year ago, Dabur India said in a regulatory filing. ET NOW's Vinnii Motiwala breaks down the numbers for us. Listen in

The company's EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) stood at Rs 290 crore, while margins declined 457 basis points to 22%. The performance during the quarter was mainly impacted due to high inflation.

Sensex ends 224 pts higher in seesaw trade; Nifty holds 16,600; Adani Enterprises plunges 27%, ITC rallies 5%; Welspun India, Jindal Saw, Strides Pharma Science are some of the top gainers in closing trade.

From the Sensex pack, ITC, and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers, rising about 3.5-5%. HUL, Infosys, Wipro, HCL Tech, TCS, ICICI Bank, and Kotak Bank also closed with gains. However, HDFC, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, and Tata Steel ended with cuts.

The gross purchase of the local funds remained more than Rs one lakh crore in January for the second month in row. The net inflow was Rs 17,958 crore in the month. This partially offset rising redemption pressure from foreign funds as they sold equities worth Rs 28,852 crore, the highest in seven months.

Indian shares were trading at a premium last year and that premium is now at risk as investors realise maybe the underlying fundamentals are not as strong as many thought. Adani may have started a confidence crisis in Indian shares and that could have broader market implications

Shares of life insurance companies fell sharply in trade on Wednesday following the announcements and extended the losses on Thursday. Shares of SBI Life Insurance, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Max Financial Services, and HDFC Life Insurance Co declined 0.5-6%.

In its revised large-cap model portfolio, the brokerage firm included ABB (150 bps) and increased the weight on Bharti Airtel (80 bps). "ABB used to be in our mid-cap portfolio until six months back and the stock has largely stagnated around the same level over this period, leading to meaningful derating in multiples," the brokerage said.