Market Wrap, Sept 29: Here's all that happened in the markets today

After logging decent gains in the past few sessions, the equity market ended on a flat note on Tuesday. The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex closed the day at 37,973, down 8 points, or 0.02 per cent while NSE's Nifty settled at 11,222.40, down 5 points, or 0.05 per cent. India VIX gained over 1 per cent to 19.7 levels.
 

UltraTech Cement ended as the top gainer on the Sensex with a gain of 3% while ONGC was the biggest loser, down 4 per cent. ICICI Bank, ITC, Axis Bank, and HUL were the major contributors to the index's fall while RIL and TCS gave much-needed support.
 

The trend among Nifty sectoral indices was largely negative, led by the Nifty PSU Bank index, down over 2 per cent.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended at 14,697, down 0.16 per cent while the S&P BSE SmallCap closed at 14,861, down 0.01 per cent.
 

Among individual stocks, shares of GMM Pfaudler were locked in the 5 per cent upper circuit band at Rs 3,821 on the BSE, rebounding 11 per cent from its early morning low of Rs 3,458 apiece. The stock reversed its recent correction when it fell over 40 per cent in the past two weeks.
 

Shares of transportation and, logistics companies rallied up 12 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday on expectations of improved earnings as global freight rates are taking off. Among the lot, Blue Dart Express hit a 52-week high of Rs 3,280 today. The stock has advanced 26 per cent in the past six trading days after the company announced a 9.6 per cent hike in its average shipment price from January next year to offset higher costs.
 

Strides Pharma Science hit a fresh 52-week high of Rs 753 during the session.
 

In the primary market, the initial public offer (IPO) of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders was subscribed 1.74 times on the first Day of the bidding process as of 4 pm.
 

Global markets
 

European shares slipped on Tuesday as investors awaited the first US presidential debate and eyed progress of a fiscal stimulus package in Washington. US shares were set to open lower, with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq giving up earlier gains to slip into negative territory. Meanwhile, the global death toll from Covid-19 rose past 1 million on Tuesday, according to a Reuters tally.