Defence Stocks On The Move: Cochin Shipyard Leads With Over 5% Surge - Too Late To Board The Ship?

Defence shares witnessed sharp gains in Tuesday's trading session with the Nifty India defence indices surging 1.8 per cent to hit a fresh record high amid the backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, and weakness in Indian stock market bourses.

Sensex and Nifty were down nearly 0.4 percent each in the red.

Top Gainers In Defence Segement

The surge witnessed in the Nifty Defence index was led by Cochin Shipyard which increased over 5 percent to trade at Rs 2,019 per share.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) and BEML shares followed, rising around 4 percent respectively.

Mishra Dhatu Nigam (Midhani), Solar Industries India, Astra Microwave Products, Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, and DCX India shares were up over 2 percent each.

Paras Defence and Zen Technologies were up over 1.7 percent each, while Bharat Dynamics (BDL), Bharat Electronics (BEL) and Data Patterns shares were trading in the green with marginal gains.

Bucking the trend, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) shares were hovering in the red with marginal losses.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has seen severe escalations recently, after a brief period of calm over hopes of a possible deal. Russia over the weekend launched 472 drones and seven missiles at Ukraine, marking the largest drone assault since the war's inception. Reportedly, Ukraine's air defenses intercepted 385 drones which gives leash to a tumultuous phase between both countries.

Ukraine retaliated by conducting major strikes on Russia's military airbases on June 1, just a day before the countries were scheduled to hold peace talks in Istanbul. According to Ukrainian officials, the surprise drone attacked over 40 warplanes at Russian airbases. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a "brilliant operation" that would go down in history.

While the two countries have engaged in discussions, the recent escalations have raised concerns over the possibility of further aggressive warfare in the near future.

Additionally, UN nuclear watchdog reportedly alleged that Iran has proliferated the production of enriched uranium, a critical component of making nuclear weapons. As per media reports, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revealed that Iran is in possession of over 400 kg of uranium with 60 per cent purity.