Dassault Aviation, the maker of Rafale jets that India used in Operation Sindoor against Pakistani terror targets, saw its stock fall by more than 7 per cent to hit a low of €291.2 on Monday before settling at €299.8 apiece in the European stock market (EPA Markets PAR).
In contrast, the shares of China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC), which manufactures the J-10C and jointly develops JF-17 Thunder fighter jets used by Pakistan, soared by 20 per cent to hit 95.86 yuan on May 12.
Despite the investor confidence in CAC over Dassault, Indian defence stocks also saw a marked jump. On Tuesday, Nifty Defence index shot up by 4.32 per cent or more than 308 points to 7,446.60 by noon.
In the same trading window, shares of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) jumped 4.34 per cent and those of missile maker Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) skyrocketed by 10.66 per cent.
On May 7, India’s defence forces used Rafale jets with SCALP cruise missiles and HAMMER munitions to strike key Pakistani terrorist targets without violating Pakistani airspace, according to reports.
The retaliation by India came after the Pakistani government failed to take action against terrorist outfits after the deadly terror attack at Pahalgam in India on April 22.
While many seem to link the stock movement of Dassault versus that of CAC to a proxy share war between India and Pakistan, the healthy movement of India’s key defence stocks despite an overall muted Tuesday morning seems to dispel any such notions.