Defence Has A Great Fall: HAL, Garden Reach, Mazagon Dock Drag Sector

Defence stocks fluctuated sharply from green to red in early trade on Monday, snapping their upward trend. Shares of Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd., Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. dragged the sector down.

NSE Nifty India Defence was the biggest sectoral laggard, trading 1.18% lower as of 9:55 a.m.

Hindustan Aeronautics, which saw net profit fall 7.7% and revenue dip 7.2% during the fourth quarter, saw its share price decline as much as 2.16% on Monday.

Jefferies called HAL's 8-10% revenue guidance for fiscal 2026 "conservative" and pointed to recent geopolitical developments, including India-Pakistan tensions and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's endorsement of 'Made in India' equipment, as reinforcing the company's domestic manufacturing tailwinds.

Data Patterns (India) Ltd., Cochin Shipyard Ltd. and Zen Technologies Ltd. led rallying stocks.

Data Patterns announced its results for the final quarter on Saturday, reporting a 60% growth in net profit, while revenue and operating margins also posted an advance. The company's revenue stood at Rs 396 crore, while Ebitda rose 60.7% and margins stood at 37.7%.

Share price of the company rose over 9.5% on Monday, leading gains among defence stocks. Shares of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd. and Cochin Shipyard Ltd. also posted an intraday rise of nearly 8%, as of 09:37 a.m.

Among the defence stocks, Zen Technologies has been stuck in the upper circuit for the past seven days at 5%. Meanwhile, Data Patterns and Unimech Aerospace and Manufacturing stock were trading nearly 4% higher. Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd. followed closely with a 2.94% increase, hitting Rs 1,852.40.

The losers of the day included Garden Reach Shipbuilders, which fell a sharp 2.41%, while Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and Hindustan Aeronautics also slipped 2.24% each in trade.

Mishra Dhatu Nigam and Solar Industries followed closely, falling 1.89% and 1.42%, respectively.