Chandrayaan-3 success lit up aerospace, defence scrips

New Delhi Shares of a number of companies that have contributed to the development of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which successfully landed near the south pole of the Moon ended with gains on Thursday. However, some companies, including Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and L&T, pared their gains and ended lower due to the emergence of profit-taking.

The stock of Centum Electronics ended 7.26 per cent higher, Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd rallied 6.13 per cent, MTAR Technologies jumped 3.83 per cent and Bharat Forge gained 0.72 per cent on the BSE. The stock of Centum Electronics had zoomed 19.69 per cent in morning trade and Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd had rallied 17.30 per cent. Centum delivered more than 200 mission-critical modules to the Chandrayaan-3 mission, according to the company’s website. Most of these firms hit their 52-week high levels during the day. Shares of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd dropped 2.54 per cent, BHEL went lower by 1.78 per cent, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd declined 1.60 per cent, Larsen & Toubro fell by 1.10 per cent and Astra Microwave Products dipped 0.10 per cent.

All these firms had climbed during the day. Shares of companies related to the aerospace and defense sectors had jumped on Wednesday as well. In the equity market, the BSE Sensex ended 180.96 points lower at 65,252.34. India’s Moon mission Chandrayaan-3 touched down on the lunar south pole at 6.04 pm on Wednesday, making it the first country to land on the uncharted surface.