In late morning trade on Tuesday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has continued its remarkable run and is charging notably higher again. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.8% to 6,182.4 points.
Four shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping lower:
The Austal Limited (ASX: ASB) share price is down 3% to $3.40. This appears to have been driven by profit taking after a solid gain over the last week. Prior to today, the shipbuilder's shares were up a sizeable 12.5% in the space of a week. This has been driven by a couple of positive developments this month. One of which came on Monday, when Austal revealed that it has successfully completed acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico for littoral combat ship, USS Mobile.
The Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) share price is down over 1% to $4.17. This morning the annuities company announced its intention to issue a new subordinated, unsecured, perpetual convertible security. This will be the Challenger Capital Notes 3, which it hopes will raise approximately $250 million. It is launching the notes to ensure it remains well capitalised and positioned for future growth.
The Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) share price has fallen 2% to $2.83 despite there being no news out of the lithium miner. However, it is worth noting that lithium miners have been incredibly volatile of late. Concerns over Tesla's plan to mine its own battery materials has weighed on investor sentiment in the industry in October.
The Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) share price has sunk 5.5% lower to 93 cents. Investors have been selling Whitehaven and other coal miners on Tuesday after the Chinese government reportedly told state-owned energy companies not to buy Australian coal. The AFR quoted one Chinese analyst, who said that he believed the move is "a political sanction against Australia."
