After climbing by as much as 0.5% earlier in the session, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has given up its early gains to be trading marginally lower at 5493 points, marking its sixth straight session in the red-zone.
The ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) also fell 0.2% following a weak lead set by Wall Street overnight which saw the Dow Jones and NASDAQ indices fall 0.5% and 0.9% respectively. However, the market's decline is nothing compared to what these six companies are dealing with today…
Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd (ASX: NEC) is by far the biggest loser amongst the ASX 200 cohort with the media and entertainment group sliding a massive 16.3% on the back of a weak trading update. On Friday after the market closed (which is poor form in itself), the company told investors it expects group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to be in the range of $285-290 million, down from previous guidance of roughly $311 million.
Seven West Media Ltd (ASX: SWM) is another media and entertainment group in the spotlight with its shares down a whopping 13.5% for the session. It's likely that Seven West Media investors are reacting to the announcement made by Nine Entertainment, which said that advertising in the free-to-air market had been "softer than anticipated", citing a particularly soft May and June.
Notably, other media companies including Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL) and Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) also fell on the news, declining by 4.5% and 2.1% respectively.
Over in the resources sector, BC Iron Limited (ASX: BCI) has crashed 5.3% to trade at just 35.5 cents. Although the price of iron ore has climbed to nearly US$65 a tonne, most analysts believe the rally cannot be sustained and that prices will fall considerably before the end of the year, which could threaten the existence of some of Australia's high-cost miners. This is highlighted by the fact that China's iron ore imports slumped a massive 8.5% by volume in May compared to 12 months earlier.
Lindsay Australia Limited (ASX: LAU) fell by 6% to trade at 47 cents after it announced that it has successfully completed a placement of shares to sophisticated investors, raising $13 million in capital, while it also announced a share purchase plan for eligible shareholders. Although the deal makes sense strategically, it's likely that investors are unhappy about the dilution effect the raising will have on their current stake.
