Chandrayaan-3: Aerospace, defense stocks in limelight

New Delhi: Shares of companies related to aerospace and defense sectors were in the limelight on Wednesday with Chandrayaan-3 set to touch down on the lunar surface.

The stock of Centum Electronics zoomed 14.91 per cent, Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd jumped 5.47 per cent, MTAR Technologies rallied 4.84 per cent and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd climbed 3.57 per cent on the BSE. Centum delivered more than 200 mission critical modules to the Chandrayaan-3 mission, according to the company's website.

Shares of Bharat Forge climbed 2.82 per cent, Astra Microwave Products gained 1.72 per cent and Larsen & Toubro (1.42 per cent). Many of these firms also hit their 52-week high levels during the day. Earlier in the day, the ISRO said it was all set to initiate the automatic landing sequence for its ambitious third Moon mission Chandrayaan-3's lander module to touch down on the lunar surface this evening.

"Several defence companies which have supplied parts used in Chandrayaan-3 rallied on expectation of a successful landing," Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said. In the equity market, the BSE Sensex climbed 213.27 points or 0.33 per cent to settle at 65,433.30. The NSE Nifty gained 47.55 points or 0.25 per cent to end at 19,444. "Market participants rushed to board on defense companies like L&T, MTAR Technologies and HAL ahead of the Chandrayaan-3 landing," Riches Vanara, Technical And Derivatives Analyst at StoxBox, said. Chandrayaan-3 has made a soft landing on the lunar south pole. In a giant leap for its space programme, India's Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, propelling the country to an exclusive club of four and making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface