Market experts attributed the weakness to a combination of valuation concerns, liquidity pressures and profit booking.
The Nifty Defence index has shed nearly 3 per cent in November, with stocks such as BEML, MIDHANI and HAL among others falling up to 17% despite 1% gain on the Nifty 50.
On the bourses, HAL share price was trading 0.27 per cent lower at ₹4,734 per share at 10 AM. By comparison, the BSE Sensex was trading flat at 84,463.92 levels.
Around 12:15 PM, Zen Technologies share price was trading 4.08 per cent higher at ₹1,411.80 per share. In comparison, BSE Sensex was down 0.11 per cent at 83,844.90 levels.
On Thursday, the MoD said the Defence Acquisition Council approved procurement proposals worth ₹79,000 crore
Analysts at PL Capital expect domestic-oriented sectors to outperform, naming banks, NBFCs, autos, retail, consumer staples, defence, metals, and select consumer durables as top picks.
The Business Standard Defence Index is designed to track the performance of 25 key defence stocks
Paras Defence share price rose today after the company said its arm, Paras Anti-Drone Technologies, has bagged an order worth ₹46.19 crore from the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
PSBs have benefited from the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) cumulative 100 basis points (bps) repo rate cut in three tranches till June 2025, and liquidity measures that lowered borrowing costs
Motilal Oswal analysts retained their 'Buy' rating on BEL with a target price of ₹490, based on 45 times September 2027 estimated earnings.
Nomura maintains a 'Buy' rating on HAL with a target price of ₹6,100, citing the streamlined delivery process and the bolstered order book as key positives.
The brokerage has assigned an 'Add' rating to HAL and BEL, with target prices of ₹6,325 and ₹459, respectively, while Bharat Dynamics, Astra Microwave, and Data Patterns remain 'Not Rated.'
Antique Broking maintained its 'Buy' rating, with a target price of ₹6,360 per share, the highest target assigned by any analysts under the Bloomberg coverage
The BS Defence stocks surged in the month of May following Operation Sindoor with companies like Astra Engineering and Paras Defence & Space Techno saw over 70 per cent 12 month price to earning ratio
JM Financial also turned underweight on banks, NBFCs and insurance as disbursement growth is likely to remain weak in FY26
BHEL rose over 2 per cent after the company signed a License Agreement for Transfer of Technology with Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory
The average trading volumes on the counter jumped nearly four-fold with a combined 48.46 million equity shares representing 14.52% of total equity of Apollo Micro changed hands on the NSE and BSE.
HAL posted a 4.11 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) decline in net profit at ₹1,377 crore in Q1FY26, compared to ₹1,436 crore in the same quarter last year (Q1FY25).
Domestic brokerage Motilal Oswal noted that Bharat Dynamics delivered a 30 per cent Y-o-Y growth in execution during Q1FY26, aided by a strong order book and easing supply chain challenges.
The board of directors of Rossell Techsys is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, to approve and take on record the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025.