Despite the S&P/ASX200 (ASX: XJO) (Index: ^AXJO) climbing 0.42% to end the day at 5,976.70, a number of prominent companies bucked the trend to end the day sharply lower.
Karoon Gas Australia Limited (ASX: KAR) was hit hardest, ending the day 18% lower following the announcement of an unsuccessful exploration update at its flagship Kangaroo West-1 well in the Santos Basin, off the coast of Brazil. Despite holding $680 million in cash at 31 December 2014, Karoon Gas' market capitalisation currently sits well below that figure.
Another top-200 resources company to be hit hard today was WHITEHAVEN COAL LIMITED (ASX: WHC). Ending the day at $1.42 per share – down 5.33% – shares in the coal miner have been heading downward since the beginning of 2011, when it briefly traded above $7.00 per share.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API) fell as much as 6.7% lower today before rebounding slightly, to end the day down 5.42%. Shares in the pharmaceutical heavyweight have been on a blistering run over the past 12 months, climbing 173%, with the company recently announcing 30% profit growth in its first half of 2015.
Finally shares of marketing and sales company, Salmat Limited (ASX: SLM), continued their disastrous run over the past year, ending the day five 5% lower. Despite announcing a 9.2% increase in revenue earlier in the month, a $64.6 million impairment within its Customer Engagement Solutions (CES) division enabled Salmat to fall to its lowest ever share price of $0.93 today. Over the past 10 years, shares have fallen a whopping 83%.
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