Nifty snaps 5-day rally, ends below 5500

The benchmark Nifty snapped a five-day winning streak on Friday and closed below the 5500-mark, dragged down by profit booking in oil & gas, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) stocks, infrastructure, telecom, metal and financial companies' shares. The Nifty had rallied more than 350 points in the previous five sessions.

The markets can go lower in the short term, says Suresh Mahadevan of UBS Securities. "The big worry is that a lot of foreign investors have been nervous but looking at the FII numbers, it doesn't seem like they have all acted on their nervousness whether it is moving to defensive names or whether it is shifting money from India to other emerging markets etc." He, however, said the target for the Sensex was still 22,500 by next March. "Definitely, we are bullish in the medium-term."

Benchmarks looked strong in early trade today. The Nifty was near the 5600 level at one point but could not hold on to it for the rest of the session. The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 295.30 points or 1.60%, to close at 18,211.52 and the 50-share NSE Nifty tumbled 87.50 points or 1.58%, to end at 5,458.95.

For the week, the Sensex is up 2.85% while the Nifty has gained 2.7%.

ADAG companies' shares took a huge beating on the bourses today. Reliance Power, Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Capital tanked 6-7%. Reliance Infra is seeking Intelligence Bureau (IB) probe into the bear cartel, reports CNBC-TV18 quoting sources.

All sectoral indices ended in the red - the BSE Realty plunged 4%. Auto, Oil & Gas, Capital Goods, Bank, Power and Metal indices were down 1-2%. The broader indices saw more sell-off as compared to the benchmarks - the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices lost 2% each.