Defence and fertilizer stocks decline up to 8% amid profit booking

Defence and fertilizer stocks on Friday fell up to 8% amid profit booking after rising as high as 20% on Thursday.

In the recent few trading sessions, both sectors witnessed a rally as the defence sector was backed by factors like new order wins, positive growth outlook and stability of the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

Meanwhile the expectations of a normal monsoon, expenditure on agriculture in the upcoming budget are some of the key triggers favoring the fertilizer stocks.


Defence stocks
Shares of the defence PSU Cochin Shipyard fell by 5.4% on BSE in today’s session to a day’s low of Rs 2,112.30, while those of Paras Defence and Space Technologies fell by 5.6% to Rs 1,345.25.

Other stocks like Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electricals (BEL) and Bharat Dynamics also witnessed a fall of 2%, 1.8% and 3% respectively.

Shares of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders dipped 3.5% today on BSE to a low of Rs 3,850.

The recent rally in defence stocks was attributed to the positive commentary of the defence minister Rajnath Singh as he has set a target to generate military exports worth Rs 50,000 crore on an annual basis and vowed to fast-track initiatives under 'Make in India' for defence production.

Fertilizer stocks
Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals shares witnessed a fall of 7.7% to its day’s low of Rs 515.05 on BSE while stocks like Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertlisers, National Fertlizers and Paradeep Phosphates tumbled by approximately 7%.

Shares of GNFC, Coromandel International and Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals fell by 6.5%, 5.5% and 5% respectively.

Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals dipped by 4% to Rs 252 today.

The rally in fertlizer stocks was in anticipation amid the news of a relief to the sector in the form of Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate rationalization as the GST Council is set to hold its meeting on June 22.

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