Defence shares snap 4-day losses: MTAR Tech, Bharat Forge, others rise up to 7.5% amid Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan

Defence shares snap 4-day losses: MTAR Tech, Bharat Forge, others rise up to 7.5% amid Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan

Defence shares gained up to 5.5% on March 17 after falling for four consecutive sessions as Pakistan launched airstrikes on Afghanistan’s capital on Monday night, triggering a fresh exchange of accusations between the neighbors and raising the risk of a major escalation.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government said the airstrikes killed at least 400 people at a drug treatment hospital. Islamabad denied the allegation, saying it targeted military infrastructure.

Deteriorating ties between the two sides are also linked to Kabul’s growing engagement with India. Islamabad has accused New Delhi of backing both the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban — an allegation India denies. At the same time, Afghanistan and India have stepped up discussions on opening new trade routes that would bypass Pakistan.

New Delhi waded into the latest tensions last week by condemning Pakistan’s earlier air strikes in Afghan territory. The comments drew a swift response from Islamabad, which called them “shamefully hypocritical.

Defence shares tend to gain amid geopolitical concerns.

At 12:20 pm on March 17, Cyient DLM and MTAR Tech shares led the gains on Nifty India Defence by climbing 7.8% and 5.6%, respectively. Nifty India Defence index was trading 0.5% higher at 7,901.5.

Other gainers on the sectoral index are Data Patterns and Bharat Forge, which rose 4.5% and 2%, respectively.

Pakistan also faces additional strain as it shares a border with Iran, which is currently involved in a war with the US and Israel, raising the risk of broader regional instability. The conflict with Afghanistan, along with energy concerns tied to the Iran war as oil prices surge, has wiped off returns from Pakistan dollar bonds this year. The debt is now on track to deliver losses of more than 5% since the conflict began in late February. The benchmark KSE-100 Index has fallen about 11% over the period.

Meanwhile, global brokerage firm JPMorgan has reiterated its constructive stance on India’s Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) sector, stating that the long-term growth story remains intact despite recent stock underperformance. The firm has identified Syrma SGS Technology as its top pick, while upgrading Amber Enterprises India and Cyient DLM to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Neutral’.

With inputs from Bloomberg