Shares of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (Adani Ports) traded lower in Wednesday’s trade, halting their six-day winning run. Adani stocks came under intense selling pressure today after Wikipedia claimed that sockpuppets – some of them being the online encyclopedia’s employees – created ‘puffery’ around Gautam Adani, his family and the group by adding non-neutral material and removing warnings from the information.
Adani Ports slipped 6.10 per cent to hit a day low of Rs 547.70 over its previous close of Rs 583.30. Around 7.63 lakh shares changed hands today on BSE, which was lower than the two-week average volume of 12.44 lakh shares. Turnover on the counter stood at Rs 42.88 crore, commanding a market capitalisation (m-cap) of Rs 1,19,542.09 crore.
Since January 24 this year, Adani stocks took a major hit after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research alleged that the Gautam Adani-led Indian conglomerate had engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the last few decades. Adani Group, however, refuted the claim as baseless.
On the earnings front, the country’s largest integrated logistics player’s net profit slipped 12.94 per cent to Rs 1,336.51 crore during the third quarter ended December 2022 (Q3 FY23) against Rs 1,535.28 crore in the same period a year ago.
Technical charts hinted that the stock looked weak, analysts said.
Ravi Singh, Vice-President and Head of Research at Share India, said, “The stock is in continuous selloff mode since the Hindenburg allegations and even a small news event is resulting in an increase the volatility. We may see a surge in volatility in Adani Ports in the near term. The counter may witness selling pressure around the Rs 500 levels in the coming trading sessions.”
Ravi Singhal, CEO at GCL, said, “The stock looks very weak on technical charts. Place stop loss at Rs 655 for a lower target of Rs 250.”
AR Ramachandran from Tips2trades, said, “Adani Ports looks bearish on the daily charts with strong resistance at Rs 605. A daily close below Rs 536 could lead to a lower target of Rs 391 in the near term.”
The stock was last seen trading lower than 5-day, 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. The counter’s 14-day relative strength index (RSI) came at 35.18. A level below 30 is defined as oversold while a value above 70 is considered overbought. The company’s stock has a negative price-to-equity (P/E) ratio of 98.92.
That said, Adani Total has an average target price of Rs 1,145, Trendlyne data showed, suggesting a potential upside of 108.35 per cent. The scrip has a one-year beta of 1.59, indicating high volatility.
In a separate development, Adani Ports said it has repaid Rs 1,500 crore loan and would repay another Rs 1,000 crore in commercial papers due in March 2023. The company has paid Rs 1,000 crore to SBI Mutual Fund and Rs 500 crore to Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund on commercial papers that matured on Monday, as scheduled.
Meanwhile, Indian equity benchmarks plunged sharply in late deals today, dragged by banks, financial, technology and energy stocks. The 30-share BSE Sensex pack dived 913 points or 1.51 per cent to trade at 59,759; while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 276 points or 1.55 per cent down to trade at 17,551.
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