The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has dropped 1.4% to 5,111.70 points at the close, with investors apparently worried about the oil price slipping again, the Australian dollar falling, and it seems renewed fears of China have surfaced yet again. A gloomy outlook from Japan isn't helping either.
Energy and resources shares led the falls, but most of the top 20 shares saw their share prices plunge.
Investors in these 8 companies could only wish they were so lucky…
Oils slide
The falling Brent oil price, which is down 0.8% to US$39.22 a barrel, saw a number of oil and gas producers hammered, including Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX: SEA) down 16.7% to $0.22, FAR Ltd (ASX: FAR) sank 8.3% to $0.11 and Beach Energy Ltd's (ASX: BPT) share price fell 7.9 to $0.70. Investors may be worried that this is the start of further falls, hence the selloff.
Gold loses its lustre
Gold producers also came in for some punishment with Beadell Resources Ltd (ASX: BDR) dropping 7.3% to $0.25, Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) share price down 6.3% to $2.24 and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price sinking 6% to $3.28. That was thanks to the 1.2% fall in the gold price, which is now buying US$1,230.10 an ounce according to Bloomberg. Australian gold producers also face the headwinds from a strengthening Australian dollar, which has rallied 4 US cents in the past few weeks to US 74.9 cents.
Increasing cash spend
1-Page Ltd (ASX: 1PG) saw its share price slammed down 6.9% to $1.48, continuing recent falls. Since the start of this year, the share price has more than halved, including losing more than 40% of its value in the past week. One factor which may have contributed was the company's announcement that it was going to increase its spending each month from US$1.3 million to US$2 million, as colleague Ryan Newman mentioned earlier today.
Falling commodity price and lack of buyers
Select Harvests Limited (ASX: SHV) saw its share price fall 5% to $4.53, continuing falls since August last year. As we wrote last week, "Select harvests says the almond market is uncertain", and prices have fallen from record highs to a three-year low. Investors continue to desert the company, with the outlook negative. The Financial Times reports that almond buyers have 'disappeared'.
