Most of Adani group firms close higher; Adani Enterprises rises 1%

Most of the Adani group stocks closed higher with the flagship Adani Enterprises settling higher by 1 per cent on Wednesday, a day after the conglomerate asserted that its balance sheet is "very healthy".

At close, six of the group firms were in the green while four were in the red.

"The market cap of Adani group companies continued to fall, down 1.5 per cent on February 15, even as 4 out of 10 conglomerate's stocks ended in the negative.

"The combined market valuation of the group is now down 54.9 per cent as compared to that on January 24," Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities, said.

On BSE, Adani Enterprises shares surged 1.61 per cent to close at Rs 1,778.45 apiece, with a market valuation of Rs 2.02 lakh crore.

Shares of NDTV jumped 4.70 per cent to settle at Rs 197.20 per share. During the day, the scrip zoomed 5 per cent to touch Rs 197.75 -- its upper price band on the bourse.

Besides, Ambuja Cements soared 2.36 per cent to close at Rs 344.60, ACC rose 1.13 per cent to end at Rs 1,851.55, Adani Wilmar gained 0.93 per cent to settle at Rs 397.25 and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone increased 0.68 per cent to end at Rs 568.95 on the exchange.

However, four Adani group firms, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas declined by 5 per cent each at close. Adani Power closed lower at Rs 140.90, Adani Transmission at Rs 1,017.05, Adani Green Energy at Rs 620.75 and Adani Total Gas at Rs 1,078.85 on BSE.

During the day, the stocks of Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas also touched their 52-week lows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex benchmark rose 242.83 points or 0.40 per cent higher to close at 61,275.09 on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, billionaire Gautam Adani's embattled conglomerate said that its balance sheet is "very healthy", as it looked to reassure investors to keep faith in the group despite a share rout triggered by a damning report by a US short-seller.

Further, the group said it has adequate cash reserves and has the ability to refinance the debt of its listed companies.

The Ahmedabad-based conglomerate's stocks have lost about 54.9 per cent of their combined market cap since January 24, when the US-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research through its adverse report made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group.