After having come agonisingly close to breaking through the 6,000 point mark earlier this morning, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has gone into reverse. Late in the session, the bourse is trading 0.1% lower at 5,964 points.
Despite the market's decline however, a number of stocks are still firing on all cylinders for the day, including these four:
M2 Group Ltd (ASX: MTU) has skyrocketed 10.3% to be trading at $11.50 after the telecommunications giant acquired Call Plus Group for roughly US$245 million. While the acquisition should begin lifting the group's overall earnings per share in the 2016 financial year, it will also see M2 Group become the third largest broadband and fixed voice service provider in New Zealand. You can read more about that here.
Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) has also received plenty of attention from the market today with investors bidding the stock 5.4% higher to $24.57 a share. Although the biotechnology company is still trading considerably below its 52-week highs, it has made a sharp recovery since plummeting as a result of an unfavourable SIRFLOX trial result. Investors are clearly becoming more confident about the overall results, set to be released in May.
Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) is the top performing stock from the ASX 200 today with the shares having soared 24% to $3.98. The rally came after Mesoblast said it had entered an agreement with US-based biopharmaceutical giant Celgene Corporation, whereby Celgrene would acquire $58.5 million worth of Mesoblast's shares at a price of roughly $3.82 per unit.
Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) has also risen 5.4% to be trading at 19.5 cents, despite unfavourable movements in the iron ore market overnight. According to the Metal Bulletin, the commodity lost a further 1.7% of its value while the Federal Government and Citi Research have both suggested iron ore prices will fall into the US$30s a tonne range. While the company didn't release any news which would specifically explain the trading activity, the jump in price seems strange given that the miner is unlikely to be making a profit at these depressed prices.
