About 1080 shares advanced, 2,771 shares declined, and 136 shares unchanged.
Paras Defence and Space Technologies led the losses, falling 7.84 percent to hit an intraday low of Rs 860.4 on the NSE. The stock declined after rising for four straight sessions.
Defence stocks: Paras Defence shares rallied 9% after turning ex-split.
Defence stocks: 'Further profit-taking appears likely and would be considered healthy, given the significant rally in recent weeks,' says Ajit Mishra from Religare Broking.
Defence stocks: The stocks had recently seen significant profit booking at elevated levels, after an earlier rally triggered by Operation Sindoor and escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war cooled down.
Select defence shares saw profit booking on June 9 after a tearaway rally witnessed in them in the past one month.
The Nifty Defence index has ended in the green in 10 out of the past 11 sessions, and the m-cap of the index has jumped by Rs 48,700 crore since May 21.
Paras Defence will hold a majority stake of 51 percent in the joint venture company, while Heven Drones will hold the rest of the stake.
Three promoters of Paras Defence cumulatively sold 13.34 lakh shares of the company in large bulk deals, adding to the selling pressure in the pack which has seen a record run in recent weeks.
The Nifty India Defence index closed with modest gains of about 0.7 percent, but select shares saw strong buying interest. The DGMOs' assurance of armed forces being prepared for future missions 'should the need arise' supported investor sentiment in this space.
The company has received orders for hard-kill enabled anti-drone technologies with kinetic interceptors, and energy weapons like lasers.
The Indian government announced that Pakistan attempted strikes on Indian military installations using drones and missiles overnight. Indian Armed Forces then targeted air defence radars and systems at multiple locations inside Pakistan, and an air defence system positioned in Lahore was successfully neutralised.
Paras Defence shares extended gains to third straight session to rise nearly 10 percent on Wednesday ahead of the March quarter results.
Defence stocks rallied for the second straight session on Tuesday, with several shares surging up to 14 percent on heightened tensions along the India-Pakistan border.
On February 3, the Nifty Defence index dropped over 5 percent or 317 points to stand at 5,881.40 to emerge as the worst performing index among the thematic indices on NSE.
Paras Defence’s focus on advanced optical and optronics systems is in-line with Government’s “Vision 2047”, said the management
Defence stocks, including HAL, BEL gained after the Cabinet Committee on Security approved deals worth Rs 80,000 crore for 31 Predator drones and two nuclear submarines, significantly enhancing India's military capabilities.