New Delhi, June 26 -- Defence stocks rallied on Thursday buoyed by expectations of increased export orders after NATO leaders pledged to scale up defence spending. Data Patterns (India), Astra Microwave Products, Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), Bharat Electronics (BEL), Zen Technologies, among other defence stocks rallied up to 4%.

The upbeat sentiment in defence stocks lifted the Nifty India Defence index by nearly 1.5%, with most of its constituents trading in the green.

The surge in sentiment follows the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leaders' declaration at the Hague Summit, where member states reaffirmed their "ironclad commitment" to collective defence. They pledged to invest up to 5% of their GDP annually in defence and s...