By Ruma Dubey

Think of a pouting child scampering off to its mother with a howl and complaint, every time it is does not get its way. And somehow, to those interminably linked with the stock market, yesterday, Anil Ambani seemed like that pouting child; running to SEBI with a complaint because his shares plummeted.

Reliance Infra was the biggest loser on the Sensex, down 19%. The second biggest loser was Reliance Communication, down 14% and it also touched a new 52-week low. All ADAG stocks tanked – Reliance Capital, Reliance Media, Reliance Broadcast and Reliance Power.

Anil Ambani promptly lodged a complaint with SEBI, seeking action against 'corporate rivals' hammering the stocks.  In a statement issued after the market closing, it was said that baseless and motivated rumours spread by unscrupulous 'corporate rivals' led to the widespread sell off.

Most of the times, rumours have neither head nor tail but sometimes, they do make us stop and take notice. There is no smoke without fire so there is always the nagging feeling that all is not well when any negative rumour surfaces. Especially now. The rumour floating around was that Rcom could also be investigated in the ongoing 2G spectrum scam. This rumour was based on the fact that Anil Ambani had been in Delhi yesterday to meet Kapil Sibal.

This was the rumour being played out but the actual reason was elsewhere. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has written to Reliance Infrastructure and SEBI for more information on the consent order that allowed the company to settle a probe by SEBI through payment of settlement charges. It has also asked for the audited balance sheets for three financial years starting 2006-07 of Rel-Infra, RNRL and Reliance Power.

If one may recollect, SEBI, in its consent order issued on 14th Jan 2011 had barred senior ADAG executives, including Anil Ambani, from investing in secondary markets in 2011, while the two group companies were barred from investing in secondary markets till December 2012. SEBI accepted a consent fee of Rs 50 crore from these companies, the executives and Ambani.  And this was paid off without admitting or denying the charges, which is what raised the hackles. Why pay when not guilty? And with ICAI now once again raking up the same has caused worry, leading the share prices to topple.

The question we ask is – why this big hullabaloo over toppling share prices when the entire market was down and most of the frontliners figured in the losers list?  And 'corporate rivalry'? How come no letters were shot off when the share prices rose during the good days?

Right now, the sentiments in the market are pretty negative and anything even remotely untoward tends to get over magnified. Any and every news is being viewed with an extremely pessimistic outlook and that affected the sentiments on ADAG stocks. Negative and positive rumours get churned out everyday in the markets, be it during a bull run or bear phase. Some smoke leads to a raging fire below while some are mere smoke screens.