Positive COVID-19 vaccine news gave investor sentiment a lift last week and sent the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) charging higher again. The benchmark index rose 2.1% to finish at 6539.2 points.
Unfortunately, not all shares climbed higher with the market last week. Here's why these were the worst performers on the ASX 200 over the period:
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)
The Evolution share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 last week with an 8.9% decline. Improving risk appetite thanks to positive COVID-19 vaccine developments weighed on the gold price last week. Combined with a broker downgrade from Macquarie, this put a lot of pressure on the Evolution share price. A number of other gold miners including Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR), Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR), and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) also fell heavily last week for similar reasons.
Elders Ltd (ASX: ELD)
The Elders share price was the next worst performer (excluding gold miners) with a 7.1% decline. Last week the agribusiness company released its full year results. Elders reported a 29% increase in sales revenue to $2,092.6 million and a 71% jump in underlying profit after tax to $109 million. This was driven partly by the acquisition of AIRR and strong demand for products from the recent winter cropping season. While this result was stronger than expected, analysts at Morgans believe its shares are fair value now and put a hold rating and $11.68 price target on them.
Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC)
The Charter Hall share price was out of form and dropped 6.9% lower last week. This was despite the property company announcing that its wholesale partnership, LWHP, has made an acquisition. The partnership has acquired a $353 million portfolio of six Bunnings Warehouse assets located in prime metropolitan markets. This portfolio of modern Bunnings Warehouse retail stores was acquired on a yield of 4.63%.
NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The NEXTDC share price was out of form and fell 6.7% over the five days. With no news out of the data centre operator, this decline may have been driven by profit taking from investors. After all, even after this decline, the NEXTDC share price is up 84% since the start of the year. This has been driven by increased demand for its data centres due to the accelerating shift to the cloud following the pandemic.
