New Delhi, June 23 -- Defence stocks continue to attract strong interest on Dalal Street as investors remain focused on the sector, driven by a fresh wave of optimism after the US launched missile strikes on Iran over the weekend, targeting nuclear facilities and further escalating the conflict in the Middle East.

While the broader market reacted negatively to the surprise US attacks, dragging the Nifty and Sensex down over 1% in Monday's trade, domestically focused defence players saw their stock prices surge up to 8% on expectations that rising geopolitical tensions could result in increased order flows and expanded defence budget allocations.

Today's rally in defence stocks was led by Apollo Micro Systems, which jumped 8%, followed b...