The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has rallied 0.9% today, as bargain hunters snapped up stocks that have been beaten down in the past six weeks. The big four banks were in heavy demand, likely thanks to the ongoing search for decent fully franked dividend yields.
Contrary to the market's overall performance, these four stocks saw their share prices hammered.
Here's our view…
FAR Ltd (ASX: FAR) has dropped more than 11% to 12 cents, after the oil explorer announced a $46.7 million capital raising at 11 cents per share. An additional 424 million shares were issued to institutional and sophisticated investors. While management raved about the capital raising, retail investors should be furious, given they have seen their share of the company significantly diluted. It's a situation we warned about just over a week ago in this article.
Gold miner Medusa Mining Limited (ASX: MML) saw its shares fall 8.1% to 68 cents, and shares have now lost 67% since this time last year. Much of that is of course on the back of the falling gold price, but it seems institutional investors are deserting the sector too, with today's announcement that US-based Wellington Management has been selling its stake and no longer holds more than 5%.
Acrux Limited (ASX: ACR) saw its shares sink 6.8% to $1.29, and shares are down 59% in the past year. Acrux develops a number of products but its main drug, Axiron, used to treat low testosterone, has come under fire from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee – along with many other similar testosterone treatments. The FDA committee has recommended new label warnings and a number of other controls over marketing and advertising.
Drillsearch Energy Limited (ASX: DLS) shares have fallen 5.6% to $1.11, despite no news from the company. Global oil prices are falling, and are currently trading around 20% lower than 4 months ago at US$83 per barrel. As a result, Drillsearch is not the only oil and gas company to see its shares drop.
