In early afternoon trade on Friday the S&P/ASX 200 index has followed the lead of U.S. markets and dropped lower. At the time of writing the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 6,761.1 points.
Four shares that have fallen more than most today are listed below. Here's why they have dropped lower:
The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price has sunk 6% lower to $1.98 after oil price crashed lower overnight. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price sank 8% to US$53.95 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price tumbled 6.15% to US$61.05 a barrel. This was the biggest daily decline in four years and caused by trade war and global growth concerns following comments by President Trump.
The Graincorp Ltd (ASX: GNC) share price has tumbled over 7% to $7.97 after the grains exporter revealed that it expects to report FY 2019 underlying EBITDA in the range of $65 million to $85 million and an underlying net loss after tax in the range of $70 million to $90 million. Management advised that FY 2019 has been an extremely difficult year for the company.
The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price has fallen over 4% to $31.87. With no news out of the healthcare technology company, I suspect that today's decline is due to profit taking after a strong gain by its shares this week. Investors were fighting to get hold of Pro Medicus' shares yesterday after it was added to the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index.
The Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) share price is down almost 3.5% to $94.56 following the release of the mining giant's half year results. Rio Tinto recorded underlying EBITDA of US$10.3 billion, which was an 11% increase on the prior corresponding period. Whilst this was a strong result, it was a touch short of the market's expectations. One positive, though, was that the miner declared a US$1 billion special dividend.
