Defence stocks take fire: Rally or retreat?

Period of correction follows a prolonged bull run

- SIRALI GUPTA

Defence stocks have been on a slippery slope since the presentation of the Union Budget for 2024-25 (FY25) on July 23.

Shares of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers, for instance, have lost 28.2 per cent, while Cochin Shipyard is down 24.7 per cent since then.

BEML has dropped 17.2 per cent, Mishra Dhatu Nigam 18 per cent, and DCX Systems 11.4 per cent, according to ACE Equity data.

Shares of Bharat Dynamics, ideaForge Technology, Data Patterns (India), Apollo Micro Systems, Paras Defence & Space Technologies, MTAR Technologies, Astra Microwave Products, Solar Industries India, and Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), on the other hand, have declined between 1.2 per cent and 10.6 per cent during the same period.

By comparison, the benchmark National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 has gained 2.7 per cent.

The fall was likely due to profitbooking after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fell short of increasing defence allocations in the Budget, but this could be seen as an opportunity to buy defence stocks for the long term.