Although the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is trading higher by 0.2% to 5155 points today, it looks set to have its worst weekly performance in four months with a 2.5% decline.
Doing a lot of the heavy lifting today have been four shares in particular, with each producing a strong finish to the week. Here's why:
Aconex Ltd (ASX: ACX) shares climbed as much as 12% to an all-time high of $7.17 today. Its rise is likely attributable to the news that Morgan Stanley has upgraded its price target on the construction collaboration services provider to $10, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Analysts at Morgan Stanley have acknowledged Aconex as having one of the most disruptive and scalable models around today. The shares have since dropped back a bit since the initial rally and are up by just over 9% in afternoon trading.
Aconex shareholders have had a fantastic 12 months, seeing the value of their holdings rise by almost 120%.
BT Investment Management Ltd (ASX: BTT) shares have rallied by around 4% to $9.30 today after the tragic murder of British MP Jo Cox brought about a suspension in Brexit campaigning. BTIM has a lot of exposure to the UK's financial markets and is widely expected to be negatively impacted if Britain voted to leave the EU. The Wall Street Journal has suggested that financial markets interpreted this tragedy as an event that could potentially shift voter sentiment towards the remain camp. Fellow UK-exposed investment manager Henderson Group plc (ASX: HGG) has also risen by around 4% today.
BT Investment Management's share price is down 27% so far in 2016.
Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD) shareholders are smiling today after its shares came out of a trading halt and jumped over 11% to $4.05. The company announced its plans for a $102 million capital raising which it intends to use to buy back all its ELDPA hybrids. By doing so managment expects to be in a position to be able to recommence paying dividends in FY 2017. This has been a long time coming, with Elders last paying a dividend back in 2008. Things are looking a lot more positive for Elders, and at just 8x estimated FY 2016 earnings I can understand why some investors are jumping on board.
Elders shares are still down by 11% year-to-date despite today's gains.
Netcomm Wireless Ltd (ASX: NTC) shares have risen almost 8% to $2.72 despite no news being released to market. I believe the wireless broadband device provider has a lot of potential, but has struggled to live up to it in recent times. In its trading update released to market in April the company advised that although revenue will be up 14% year-on-year, EBITDA is expected to be marginally lower than last year at $6.4 million. However, it is expecting a stronger performance next year thanks to the increasing pace of the NBN roll out and commencement of orders from one of the two largest US-based telecommunications carriers.
Netcomm shares have skyrocketed by over 275% in the last 12 months.
