It's been a rather positive start to the trading week for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and most ASX 200 shares this Monday. At present, the ASX 200 has put on a rosy 0.65% and is back to around 7,470 points. But it's a very different story when it comes to the Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price.
Pilbara shares are having a not so good, very bad day, to put it politely. The ASX 200 lithium stock closed at $3.47 a share last week. But Pilbara is currently down a hefty 4.76% to $3.31 a share after falling as low as $3.25 earlier this afternoon. At the time, that was a fall worth more than 6%.
So what's got up Pilbara's proverbial goat to warrant falls of this magnitude this Monday?
Well, it's not entirely clear. There's been no official ASX news out of Pilbara for a while now. However, this fall is part of a broader trend in the ASX lithium sub-sector.
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ASX lithium woes drag down the Pilbara share price
Almost all ASX lithium shares are having a day to forget today. Take Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO). It's down 3.8% right now at 20 cents a share. Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA) has dropped 6.7% to 4.2 cents, while Arcadium Lithium plc (ASX: LTM) has shed a coincidental 7.48% down to $7.48 a share.
But it's Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) that is making the news. Liontown shares are having a shocker, having tanked by 19.25% down to 96 cents apiece. That's after dropping as low as 88 cents earlier this morning, a new 52-week low for the company.
This price collapse follows a poorly received update that we discussed earlier today. As my Fool colleague went into at the time, this update informed investors that Liontown is considering shelving expansion plans at a major lithium mine. It also revealed that a recent funding facility has been cancelled due to poor lithium pricing.
Brokers and shorters bet against lithium
The continued presence of Pilbara shares on the ASX's most short-sold shares list might also be contributing as well. As my Fool colleague discussed just this morning, Pilbara continues to top the list of the ASX's most-shorted shares.
Investors can be wary of investing in a company that has significant capital wagered against its shares rising. So this could also be at least partly to blame here.
Another factor we can also point to is a recent broker revision. ASX broker Bell Potter has just come out with a revised opinion on Pilbara shares. The broker has downgraded its 12-month share price target for Pilbara shares from $3.90 to $3.60. Hardly a vote of confidence.
So seems likely that it is this combination of events that is weighing on the Pilbara share price, as well as the entire ASX lithium space today.
Let's see if the rest of the week holds anything better in store for the Pilbara Minerals share price and the company's lithium peers.
