Adani group stocks under pressure as MSCI to review free float status

Adani Enterprises locked 10 per cent lower circuit, while Adani Ports, Adani Power, Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green Energy and Ambuja Cements were down up to 6 per cent

Shares of Gautam Adani group companies were under pressure as they fell up to 10 per cent on Thursday, after the index provider MSCI said that it will review free float status of the listed group companies.

Among the individual stocks, Adani Enterprises hit 10 per cent lower circuit at Rs 1,942.80 on the BSE. The stock traded in the futures & option (F&O) segment, which has no circuit limits.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, meanwhile, slipped 9 per cent to Rs 545.95, whereas shares of Adani Power (Rs 172.90), Adani Transmission (Rs 1,248.55), Adani Total Gas (Rs 1,324.45) and Adani Green Energy (Rs 766.60) locked at 5 per cent lower circuit.

On the other hand, shares of Ambuja Cements (down 5.4 per cent at Rs 363.75), ACC (down 4 per cent at Rs 1,893.70) and New Delhi Television (NDTV) (down 4 per cent at Rs 217.95) were down over 3 per cent on the BSE.  

Adani Wilmar, however, was up 1 per cent at Rs 424 per share, after surging 5 per cent to Rs 440.30 in intra-day trade.a In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.13 per cent at 60,586.

Any listed company has to ensure that at least 25 per cent of its shareholding is with the public at large. Shares held by non-promoters—be it retail investors, mutual funds, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), and insurance companies—are called public float or public shareholding. Therefore, shares held by entities or individuals that incorporate the company and/or exercise control over the company are categorised as promoter shareholding.

On Thursday, index provider MSCI said that it was reviewing the free float status of Adani Group securities after market participants raised concerns about the eligibility of companies in the Indian conglomerate for some of its indexes.

"MSCI has received feedback from a range of market participants concerning the eligibility and free float determination of specific securities associated with the Adani Group for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes (GIMI)," it said in a statement.

Moreover, MSCI said it defined the free float of a security as the proportion of shares outstanding available for purchase in the public equity markets by international investors. CLICK HERE FOR FULL REPORT