The Indian stock market, which has been relatively stable, delivered a tight slap to Hindenburg Research, a US-based short-selling firm, as well as to opposition parties in India, such as Congress and its sympathisers. Their economic conspiracy theories did not yield the results they had hoped for and ultimately backfired.
On the morning of 12 August 2024, there was no major movement in the stock market. The market opened lower than the close on 9 August 2024 but soon regained ground. By noon, the BSE Sensex had risen by over 200 points and the Nifty 50 by 50 points. Most major stocks traded within a narrow range, except Adani Group shares, which had declined since the morning. The BSE Sensex was up 209 points at 79,904, while the Nifty was at 24,412, showing a 50-point increase during the day.
Despite fears of a significant drop following the release of the Hindenburg Research report which alleged that the SEBI chief had connections with offshore funds allegedly used by the Adani’s to manipulate their share prices—the major stock indices remained relatively steady and traded within a limited range.
However, Adani Group’s stocks suffered notable losses, estimated at $13.4 billion, according to Reuters. The S&P BSE Sensex, which had opened 375 points, managed to recover some of the losses throughout the day, ending with a slight drop of 57 points, or 0.07%, at 79,649. Similarly, the NSE Nifty-50 index closed down by 20.50 points, or 0.08%, at 24,347.
Commenting on the market’s subdued reaction, Arun Kejriwal, founder of Kejriwal Research & Investment Services, told The Hindu, “Investors and institutions understand that this [Hindenburg Report] is an extension of the previous report and is largely a personal attack on a regulator, which has already issued a show-cause notice. Hence, the personal allegations against the SEBI chief have been largely disregarded.”
He noted that the recent losses for Adani Group stocks were “minimal” compared to the significant declines experienced following the first Hindenburg report released 18 months ago. On 12 August 2024, eight out of ten Adani Group stocks closed lower, including Adani Enterprises (-1.09%), Adani Ports (-2.02%), Adani Power (-0.65%), Adani Energy Solutions (-3.70%), Adani Total Gas (-4.03%), Adani Wilmar (-4.14%), NDTV (-3.08%), and ACC (-1.55%).
Since the release of the first Hindenburg report in January 2023, both the NIFTY index and investors, including Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), have approached the market with caution. As of 9 August 2024, the NIFTY has risen by approximately 6,249 points. During this period, FIIs have invested a total of about ₹2.1 lakh crores, while DIIs have contributed around ₹4.4 lakh crores. This indicates that investors are not swayed by disruptive actors like Hindenburg Research but instead maintain a “calm and due diligence” approach before reacting to such negative reports or claims.
This is how NIFTY & investors (FIIs & DIIs) have behaved since the first Hindenberg report was released on Jan-2023
1. NIFTY has moved up ~6249 points (as on Aug 9th)
2. FIIs have made a cumulative investment of ~INR 2.1 Lakh crores
3. DIIs have made a cumulative investment of… pic.twitter.com/LvzAolFvIC— KishoreIyer (@KishoreIyer5) August 12, 2024
(With inputs from The Hindu)
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