Sensex, Nifty Edge Lower; Indiabulls Real Estate Surges 40%

Indian shares ended with minor losses on Monday with the Sensex falling 48 points and the Nifty ending 0.12 per cent or 11.5 points lower at 9,139. However, shares of real estate companies surged with Indiabulls Real Estate leading the realty pack with 40 per cent gains.

Indian shares opened nearly flat on Monday and traded in a narrow range throughout the day as investors waited for positive corporate results after a disappointing start to the earnings season last week when Infosys Ltd issued a lower-than-expected revenue guidance.

"With the earnings season having just begun, markets need to see some kind of confirmation that growth will come," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.

"Broadly, markets are consolidating and are finding it difficult to sustain fresh highs, and profit-booking is coming in."

Most of the sectoral indices ended in red except energy and realty stocks. The realty sub-index of Nifty ended 8.02 per cent higher led by Indiabulls Real Estate, which surged 40 per cent after it informed exchanges about its restructuring plans.

The New Delhi-based real estate developer said that it will restructure its business by demerging the commercial & leasing and residential business into two separate companies to bring greater focus on individual business segments. Domestic brokerage Angel Broking said the proposed demerger will be positive for Indiabulls Real Estate.

Other realty counters like DLF, Anant Raj, HDIL, Parsvanath Developers surged between 6-13 per cent.

Meanwhile, Gail India was the top gainer in Nifty, up 3.89 per cent followed by Indiabulls Housing Finance, Grasim Industries, Reliance Industries and Power Grid, which surged between 1.15 to 2.2 per cent.

NTPC was the top loser in Nifty, down 3.25 per cent followed by Bharti Infratel and Sun Pharma.

The Sensex ended 47.78 points lower at 29,413.66 and the Nifty closed 11.50 points lower at 9,139.30. (With agency inputs)