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Benchmarks continue to remain under pressure in noon trade with frontline gauges tumbling below their crucial 17,550 (Nifty) and 58,600 (Sensex) levels on the back of feeble global cues. Sentiments were fragile as research wing of rating agency Crisil in its latest report said that companies are not able to pass on the pressure from rising input costs to buyers, and this is likely to result in a compression in corporate profit margins for the March quarter (Q4FY22). It said operating profit margins for companies are set to fall by as much as 3 percentage points compared to the year-ago period, and up to 0.60 per cent as compared to the preceding December quarter. On the global front, Asian markets were trading mostly lower ahead of U.S. inflation data which could foreshadow even more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Back on street, the overall market breadth on BSE was in the favour of declines which thumped advances in the ratio of 2266:1069; while 101 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 58545.91, down by 418.66 points or 0.71% after trading in a range of 58338.13 and 58743.50. There were 4 stocks advancing against 26 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index lost 1.24%, while Small cap index was down by 1.16%.

The only gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Utilities up by 0.51% and Power was up by 0.45%, while Metal down by 4.00%, Realty down by 2.45%, Basic Materials down by 2.08%, Energy down by 1.92% and Capital Goods was down by 1.82% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 1.07%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.95%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.78% and HCL Tech was up by 0.56%. On the flip side, Tata Steel down by 3.71%, Larsen & Toubro down by 2.32%, Infosys down by 1.55%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.44% and Tech Mahindra was down by 1.43% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, setting the stage for the rollout of 5G services, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mooted a mega auction plan valued at over Rs 7.5 lakh crore at the base price across multiple bands for radiowaves allocated over 30 years. Overall, the TRAI recommended about a 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity.

The watchdog has recommended a mega auction plan of over Rs 7.5 lakh crore for over 1 lakh megahertz spectrum in case government allocates it for a period of 30 years. In case of 20 years, the total value of the proposed spectrum auction will stand at around Rs 5.07 lakh crore at the reserve price, according to the back-of-the-envelop calculation. With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, Trai recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. It has suggested a lower reserve price for all bands, compared to last recommended prices in 2018.

On a 20-year scenario, the floor price in the 700 MHz band has been cut by 40 per cent to Rs 3,927 crore per MHz for a pan-India spectrum while the same in 800 MHz has been lowered by 22 per cent to about Rs 3,620 crore per MHz, pan-India. For the prime 5G frequency of 3300-3670 MHz band, the all-India reserve price adds up to Rs 317 crore per MHz, which is more than 35 per cent lower than the Rs 492 crore/MHz suggested by Trai last time around.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17526.60, down by 148.35 points or 0.84% after trading in a range of 17462.30 and 17594.40. There were 6 stocks advancing against 44 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were TCS up by 0.96%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 0.93%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.75%, HCL Tech up by 0.56% and Britannia Inds was up by 0.34%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 5.66%, Coal India down by 4.81%, Tata Steel down by 3.72%, JSW Steel down by 3.09% and Tata Motors was down by 2.82% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading mostly lower; Nikkei 225 slipped 486.54 points or 1.81% to 26,334.98, KOSPI fell 26.42 points or 0.98% to 2,666.68, Taiwan Weighted dropped 57.46 points or 0.34% to 16,990.91, Straits Times trembled 27.28 points or 0.81% to 3,336.28 and Jakarta Composite was down by 47.22 points or 0.66% to 7,156.57.

On the flip side, Shanghai Composite gained 39.62 points or 1.25% to 3,206.75 and Hang Seng was up by 151.07 points or 0.71% to 21,359.37.

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