It's shaping up to be a rather pleasant end to the week for ASX shares and the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). So far this Friday, the ASX 200 has put on a healthy 0.82% and is back over 7,150 points. But the same can't be said for the CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price.
CSL shares, at the time of writing, are in the red today. They've lost 0.47% of their value so far and are currently going for $268.75 each. So what's going on here? After all, this is an underperformance of the broader market of more than 1%.
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Why is the CSL share price dropping today?
Well, it's not entirely clear. There hasn't been any news or announcements out of CSL today. Or indeed for a few weeks now.
But what we do know is that the S&P/ASX 200 Health Care Index (ASX: XHJ) is one of the worst-performing sectors on the ASX 200 today so far. Amongst ASX healthcare shares, Virtus Health Ltd (ASX: VRT) is leading the losses.
Virtus shares are presently down by a notable 1.1%. This could be related to the news we heard this morning, that Virtus has terminated the transaction implementation deed with European company CapVest in favour of a rival offer from BGH Capital.
The Virtus board is now unanimously recommending shareholders go with the BGH offer, even though the termination with CapVest will see Virtus pay a $7.19 million break fee.
This could be what is dragging the Virtus share price down today, and by extension, Virtus' woes could be why the entire healthcare sector, including the CSL share price, is under the pump.
At the current CSL share price, this ASX 200 healthcare giant has a market capitalisation of $129.42 billion, with a dividend yield of 0.96%.
