The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a disappointing decline. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 7,269.9 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are sinking:
Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN)
The Ansell share price is down 4.5% to $32.30. Investors have been selling the health and safety protection solutions company's shares following a bearish broker note out of Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG). Its analysts have downgraded the company's shares to an underperform rating and cut the price target on them to $32.00. Macquarie believes that recent trends pose downside risk to the market's earnings expectations.
Predictive Discovery Ltd (ASX: PDI)
The Predictive Discovery share price has crashed 25% to 17.5 cents. This morning the Guinea-based gold explorer advised that two of its deposits and some other parts of its permits are located within the Outer Buffer Zone of the Upper Niger National Park. The Outer Buffer Zone of the Upper Niger National Park is a protected area where the mining of mineral deposits is not permitted.
Strike Energy Ltd (ASX: STX)
The Strike Energy share price is down a further 13.5% to 19.5 cents. Investors have been selling this energy company's shares following the release of its maiden Perth Basin Gas Reserve. According to the release, 300 petajoule (PJ) 2P and up to 372 PJ 3P gross gas reserves at the West Erregulla gas field in the Kingia Sandstone have been certified. Analysts at Macquarie note that this is significantly below (28% to 44%) management's previous guidance.
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
The Zip share price is down 3.5% to $6.62 despite there being no news out of the buy now pay later provider. This decline appears to have been driven by broad weakness in the tech sector today following a poor night on the Nasdaq index. The S&P/ASX All technology Index is down 1.9% at the time of writing.
