Anil Ambani group says rivals planting rumours

Shares of Anil Ambani group companies on Wednesday tanked by about 19 per cent on BSE, prompting the group to lodge a complaint with market regulator Sebi seeking action against 'corporate rivals' hammering the stocks.

"A series of completely baseless and motivated rumours have been spread today by our unscrupulous corporate rivals," Anil Ambani group said in a statement after the market close.

The statement followed heavy selloff in various group companies and some of them plunged by over 25 per cent in intra-day trade before some partial recovery.

"This (rumour mongering by rivals) has been accompanied by vicious and illegal bear hammering of our listed stocks to create panic and destabilise the markets," the group said.

"We have made a formal complaint to SEBI and the stock exchanges to immediately investigate these illegal trades and take appropriate action to safeguard the interests of our over 11 million investors," it added.

Reliance Infrastructure-the biggest loser among the Sensex stocks-ended the day at Rs 534.70, down by 18.79 per cent on the BSE. In the intra-day session, the stock had nosedived by 25.14 per cent to an year-low of Rs 492.85.

Another major loser from the Anil Ambani camp was Reliance Communications which dropped by 17.97 per cent to a record low of Rs 90.80. Later, it settled at Rs 94.85, down 14.32 per cent.

Further, Reliance Capital ended 14.05 per cent lower, Reliance MediaWorks fell by 16.11 per cent, Reliance Broadcast Network slipped by 9.83 per cent and Reliance Power tanked by 8.93 per cent.

Marketmen said that heavy selling in the group stocks followed rumours about RCOM's name being drawn into the investigations related to the 2G spectrum scam.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex finished the day at 17,592.77, down 182.93 points or 1.03 per cent, after a highly volatile session.