The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) ground its way higher today, gaining 0.2%, recovering from a midday fall and closing at 5,888.7.
The index only needs to gain 1.9% more to hit the 6,000 level – we could hit that this week with some luck.
But if you owned any of the following 5 stocks, you probably aren't cheering…
Prana Biotechnology Limited (ASX: PBT) dropped 11.4% to 15.5 cents and have now lost 22.5% in the past few days. That came after the company announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had placed its Phase 2 clinical trial on partial clinical hold, and limits the dosage that can be given to patients with Huntington disease. Prana says it could continue the trial, but at a dose that is not considered clinically relevant. In other words, it may or may not work because the dose is too low.
G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) fell 10% to $4.30, despite reporting that net profit for the six months to December 2014 had jumped 70%. So what were investors so concerned about? Colleague Darryl Date-Shappard may have the answers you seek here.
Patties Foods Limited (ASX: PFL) lost 7.7% to close at $1.265 after the food manufacturer was forced to recall Nanna's and Creative Gourmet Frozen Mixed Berries packs. That follows advice from the Victorian Health Department of potential Hepatitis A contamination. Patties CEO Steve Chaur noted today that the company itself had not found any issues with the food safety, it was doing further testing. Media reports suggest that the products contain fruit sourced from overseas, and that was where the contamination may have originated.
Maverick Drilling and Exploration Ltd (ASX: MAD) sunk 7.4% to 12.5 cents. The oil and gas producer recently announced that it has raised enough capital to provide up to 4 years of working capital – which suggests the company doesn't expect much production or profit over that time. Maverick also has a $500 million debt facility which it intends to use to acquire oil and gas assets, over the next few years.
iProperty Group Limited (ASX: IPP) fell 5.7% to $3.17. The group owns and operates several property portals throughout Asia, and announced last Friday that it was going to acquire Thailand's number one real estate portal, ThinkOfLiving.com. I'm not sure why investors saw that as bad news – another number one site in another large Asian nation will surely stand the company in good stead for the long term.
