New Delhi: After surging for two days, shares of Adani Group companies traded lower on Thursday, February 9, after financial index provider MSCI said it was reviewing the free float status of some group company securities and their eligibility in its indexes.
Free float refers to the shares of a company that can be publicly traded and are not restricted (i.e., held by insiders).
According to the Times of India, MSCI will change its weightings for the group stocks after reviewing how many shares can be traded freely.
“MSCI has determined that the characteristics of certain investors have sufficient uncertainty that they should no longer be designated as free float,” US-based MSCI said in a statement, Reuters reported.
“This determination has triggered a free float review of the Adani Group securities,” it said.
“Some investors follow MSCI index as a gauge,” Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities, told the news agency. “Depending on the outcome of the MSCI review, we could see more pressure on select Adani group stocks.”
This is part of MSCI’s regular review for February.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest stock investor, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, said on Thursday it had sold its stake in Adani Group worth around $200 million, Reuters reported.
According to Moneycontrol, at the end of 2022, the Norwegian fund held shares in Adani Green Energy worth $52.7 million, a stake in Adani Total Gas worth $83.6 million and ownership in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone worth $63.4 million.
Eight out of nine Adani stocks ended in the red.
Adani Enterprises was down 10.72% to end at 1,927.30 apiece on Thursday. Adani Ports was down 2.9%, Adani Power 5%, Adani Transmission 5%, Adani Green Energy 4.96%, Adani Total Gas 5%, ACC 2.88%, and Ambuja Cements 6.86%.
Adani Wilmar was up 5%, after the company reported a 16% increase in its consolidated profit for the third quarter ended December 2022 as compared to the year ago period. The firm sells products under the Fortune brand.
Sensex was up 142 points, or 0.23%, to close at 60,806.22, while Nifty was up 22 points, or 0.12%, to end at 17,893.45.