HAL, BEL, Paras Defence, Mazagon Dock, BDL, Data Patterns shares trade mixed as India launches 'Operation Sindoor'

Shares of defence companies witnessed mixed trends in choppy trade on Wednesday, with index heavyweights Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) ,  Bharat Electronics , and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders slipping into red within the first hour of early trade. The defence stocks also saw some profit booking at higher levels after recent strong rally amid rising border tension with Pakistan in the wake of the terrorist attack in a meadow near Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed on 22 April, 2025.

In a strong retaliation to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, India early today carried out “Operation Sindoor” hitting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The Indian armed forces carried out strikes against nine terrorist sites in Pakistan and PoK as part of a new military initiative codenamed 'Operation Sindoor'.

Reacting to the news, shares of HAL, Bharat Electronics (BEL), Bharat Dynamics , Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, Paras Defence, Data Patterns,  Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers  (GRSE) rallied up to 6% in early trade today.

However, most defence stocks pared early gains and were trading flat, hovering around baseline levels. The Nifty India Defence Index, which tracks the performance of portfolio of defence stocks, was down 0.18% at the time of reporting. The top gainers in the Nifty Defence pack were DCX India, Paras Defence, Data Patterns, Astra Microwave Products, and Solar Industries India, rising in the range of 1-2%.

On the other hand, HAL, BEL, GRSE, Dynamatic Technologies, Mazagon Dock, and Cochin Shipyard shares fell up to 2%.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading flat, swinging between gains and losses, as caution prevailed in the market amid escalated geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan.

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