The shares of defence companies surged on August 22 after Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine despite efforts by US President Donald Trump-led administration to negotiate a peace deal between the two countries.
The sharp rise in the share prices pushed the Nifty India Defence index up nearly 1 percent to hover around 7,760.25.
Russia launched one of its largest attacks on Ukraine, sending 574 drones and 40 missiles to the neighboring country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. One person was killed and 22 were wounded in the overnight strikes, authorities said.
According to Zelenskyy, a missile strike on a US-owned electronics firm was a "telling" indicator of Russian intentions in US-led peace initiatives. "Now the signals from Russia are simply, to be honest, indecent. They are trying to back away from the need to hold meetings. They don't want to end the war. They carry on with massive strikes," he said in a video address.
This comes after US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that there was an agreement for a bilateral meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin now demands that Ukraine gives up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, Reuters reported citing sources. The Russian President met Donald Trump in Alaska last week for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, the report further said.
The defence stocks had earlier tumbled amid rising ceasefire talks and lack of fresh triggers. The fresh escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war may have re-boosted the stocks. DCX Systems shares rallied around 10.5 percent to trade at Rs 275.50 apiece. Solar Industries and Zen Technologies shares gained around 2 percent each.
Astra Microwave Products, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Paras Defence shares gained around 1 percent each, while Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), BEML and Bharat Dynamics (BDL) shares were trading in the green with marginal gains.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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