Although it has given back some of its earlier gains, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has pushed higher again today and is up 0.6% to 5,883 points in afternoon trade.
Four shares which haven't been able to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking lower:
The Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU) share price has fallen almost 4% to 34.7 cents. Yesterday the gold miner released a reasonably mixed quarterly production update. This led to UBS retaining its neutral rating and 40 cents price target on the gold miner's shares.
The Thorn Group Ltd (ASX: TGA) share price has fallen a further 9% to 82.5 cents. The financial services company has come under heavy selling pressure after it downgraded its full-year profit guidance on Monday. Management now expects earnings to be 30% lower than in FY 2017. I would suggest investors avoid its shares no matter how cheap they appear.
The WAM Capital Limited (ASX: WAM) share price is down 3.5% to $2.40. The vast majority of today's decline is related to WAM Capital's shares going ex-dividend this morning. Its 7.5 cents per share fully franked dividend is expected to be paid to shareholders on October 27.
The XERO FPO NZX (ASX: XRO) share price has tumbled 3.5% to $31.06 despite there being no news out of the accounting software company. I suspect today's decline is a case of profit taking. After all, Xero's shares recently hit an all-time high of $32.44. While I think Xero could be a great buy and hold investment, I'd hold out for a better entry point.
