Defence shares fall for 4th time in 5 sessions amid profit booking; Mazagon Dock, GRSE, others fall up to 3%

Defence shares faced selling pressure for the fourth time out of five days as profit booking continued in the sector.

Shares of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd fell the most at 2.8% to trade at Rs 3,222 apiece. The stock fell over 5% in the past five days after rallying nearly 17% in the past month.

The defence index had surged over 40% since the beginning of April on expectations of higher order inflows amid conflict between India and Pakistan, raging tensions between Russia and Ukraine, and European nations deciding to significantly increase their defence spending to pre-empt any further aggression by Russia.

What also aided the bullish sentiment was defence ministry approving the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft Programme Execution Model last month, which shall provide equal opportunities to both private and public sectors for bidding for defence projects on a competitive basis.