Adani stocks slip after 2 days of gains as MSCI to review free float status

Adani Group shares dropped at the start of trading, ending a two-day reprieve, after MSCI Inc. said it was reviewing the amount of Adani Group-linked shares freely tradable in public markets.

Nine of the group's 10 stocks declined, with flagship Adani Enterprises Ltd. dropping as much as 10% following a 35% jump over the previous two sessions. The group's market value has plunged over the past two weeks after US short-seller Hindenburg Research published a critical report, with losses of as much as $117 billion.

MSCI said it will implement and announce any resultant changes affecting calculations of the so-called free float and market capitalization of the Adani group stocks when releasing its February index review scheduled Thursday.

"This is unmitigated bad news for the Adani Group companies and a lot of the gains made over the last couple of days could be wiped out today," Brian Freitas, an analyst at Smartkarma, wrote in a research note. "There will be BIG passive selling."

Billionaire Gautam Adani has been stepping up measures to reassure investors and banks by repaying loans and pledging to reduce debt ratios, while the slump in the group's dollar debt has attracted buyers such as Oaktree Capital Management and Davidson Kempner Capital Management.

The Adani group plans to prepay a $500 million bridge loan due next month after some banks balked at refinancing the debt following the Hindenburg report. Barclays Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and Deutsche Bank AG are among banks that lent Adani $4.5 billion to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd. cement assets last year. A portion of that loan is due 9 March.