Shares in Indian conglomerate Adani tanked on Thursday after its industrialist owner Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors with handing out more than $250 million in bribes for key contracts. The painful losses at units of the Adani Group came as markets across most of Asia retreated as blockbuster earnings from chip titan Nvidia smashed forecasts but fell short of investor hopes, sparking worries this year's tech-led rally may have run its course. Several listed subsidiaries of the Adani empire, which spans coal, airports, cement and media, collapsed in early trade, with some losing as much as 20 percent.
The charges are another blow to the firm, which was sent reeling last year when a bombshell report from US investment firm Hindenburg Research claimed the conglomerate had engaged in a "brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades". Flagship firm Adani Enterprises dived 10 percent, while Adani Energy tanked 20 percent and Adani Ports dropped 10 percent. However, Mumbai's Sensex index saw more limited losses, giving up around 0.
7 percent. Bitcoin reached an all-time peak above $97,000 as it continued its run towards $100,000 on optimism that the incoming US president will usher in an era of deregulation for cryptocurrencies. All eyes had been on the release from Nvidia, which has been at the forefront of a global tech surge that has helped push some markets to multiple records owing to voracious demand for all things linked to artific.