Adani Enterprises plunges as rout deepens in Hindenburg fallout; Asia stocks mixed

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Friday as shares of Adani Enterprises plunged and last traded 15% lower, continuing a sell-off triggered by allegations raised by short seller firm Hindenburg.

The Nifty 50 in Mumbai traded 0.5% higher despite Adani companies continuing to drop sharply, while the S&P Sensex rose 0.65%.

Adani Group founder and chairman Gautam Adani’s net worth fell further overnight, and now sits at #21 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He lost a total of $59.2 billion in net worth year-to-date to $63.1 billion as of Thursday’s market close.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.2%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.66% and the Shenzhen Component lost 0.63% as the Caixin purchasing managers’ index showed services activity in China picked up in January.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.39% and the Topix traded 0.26% higher as the au Jibun Bank Japan Services Purchasing Managers’ Index for January marked further growth for the month.

In South Korea, the Kospi also rose 0.47% to 2,480.4 and the Kosdaq gained 0.28% 766.79.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.62% to 7,558.1 as investors digest new housing loan commitments for December that fell 4.3%.