The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has jumped up 0.8% today, with similar gains on the All Ordinaries (Index: ^AORD) (ASX: XAO) and the S&P/ASX 100 (Index: ^AXTO) (ASX: XTO).
That has offset some of the falls during the week, with most indices ending the week slightly up. The near correction (a fall of 10%) we experienced in October appears long forgotten.
Despite the index gains, these 5 stocks were hammered today…
Vocation Ltd (ASX: VET) continues to plummet, losing another 15.3% today, to close at 66.5 cents. It's a far cry from its 52-week high of $3.40, with much of the blame laid at the feet of the company's management. Last week the company announced that it had lost close to $20 million in government funding, surprising the market, and investors appear to have lost faith in the company. Further falls from here appear likely.
Gold miner Resolute Mining Ltd (ASX: RSG) saw its shares drop 13.5% to 22.5 cents today, after the company announced that it was raising up to $25 million via a convertible note issue, with a face value of $1.00. Funds raised will be used to undertake feasibility studies on 3 projects, drilling programs and to "maintain ongoing operations". That suggests the company may be operating at a loss in the face of gold prices at their lowest since April 2010.
RedFlow Ltd (ASX: RFX) saw its shares drop to 29.5 cents, losing 9.2%. Redflow is developing zinc-bromine batteries that can be used to store and provide energy. But it may just be investors taking some profits, with Redflow shares jumping more than 150% this year. Zinc-bromide batteries are reportedly ideal for storage of renewable energy, as well as supporting off-grid or micro-grid power systems.
UGL Limited (ASX: UGL), the engineering services company also appears to have lost investor faith, falling another 7.3% today to $5.46. Yesterday UGL's shares dropped 14%, after the company announced its Joint Venture partner was likely to take provisions on a power station project of $85 million this quarter. What is concerning is that the partner CH2M had raised the potential issue as far back as August, but UGL management did not raise it as an issue, despite a number of opportunities to do so.
SMS Management & Technology Limited (ASX: SMX) saw its shares drop 6.9% to $3.63 today, although there was no news from the company. Shares in SMS have dropped 21.7% so far this year, although have recovered from a fall to $3.12 in May this year. The IT services and consulting company reported a disappointing 2014 financial year with net profit falling 40%.
