Local investors are enjoying another day of solid gains with the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lifting another 0.3% to 5,891 points.
The majority of sectors are trading in positive territory today, although the strongest contributors have come from the energy, materials and consumer staples sectors.
Despite the positive mood, a number of shares are taking a pretty big hit today, including:
Cabcharge Australia Limited (ASX: CAB)
The Cabcharge share price has plunged more than 21% as a result of the shares trading ex-dividend. The taxi operator will pay shareholders a special dividend of 80 cents per share after it sold its 49% interest in ComfortDelGro Cabcharge (CDC) for $184 million. Cabcharge also declared an interim dividend of 10 cents per share following its first-half result. The company has been one of the biggest losers since the introduction of ride-sharing services like Uber and this has seen its shares fall by around 48% over the past five years.
Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL)
The Bellamy's share price has dropped more than 8.2% today after the company told investors that it will not have the necessary approvals to sell some of its products into China. It comes after Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) decided it would no longer register the products at its Derrimut canning line. Unfortunately, Bellamy's will now be forced to look for alternative suppliers and doesn't expect to have the necessary product approvals prior to the 1 January 2018 deadline.
DuluxGroup Limited (ASX: DLX)
The Dulux share price has crashed more than 4.4% to $6.50 today following a broker downgrade. Analysts at UBS have slapped a 'sell' rating on the shares and set a price target of $6.10. The broker believes Australia's construction cycle may have already peaked, which is likely to result in falling demand for the company's core paint products. UBS also highlighted concerns relating to the company's non-paint businesses following a lengthy period of under-performance.
Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA)
The Thorn Group share price has continued on its terrible run today, falling another 3.8% to $1.27. It comes after the company confirmed it has been served with a class action launched by customers who were part of its Radio Rentals "Rent, Try, $1 Buy" offer. Maurice Blackburn will lead the case and will argue that the company targeted vulnerable people and treated customers unfairly and unconscionably. Thorn has said it will defend the claim in the ordinary course of the class action process and anticipates that the process could take years to run its course. Unfortunately, shares of Thorn Group have lost more than a third of their value since the start of the year.
