The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a strong session on Wednesday. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.5% to 7,763.8 points.
Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are falling:
Fletcher Building Ltd (ASX: FBU)
The Fletcher Building share price is down a further 3% to a new multi-year low of $2.66. Investors have been selling this building materials company's shares this week following the release of a disappointing trading update. Management advised that market conditions across the company's Materials and Distribution divisions have weakened throughout FY 2024. As a result, it expects to fall short of its EBIT (before significant items) guidance of NZ$540 million to NZ$640 million. It now expects a result in the range of NZ$500 million to NZ$530 million. Fletcher Building also warned that it expects market conditions to remain challenging in both New Zealand and Australia in the near term.
Healius Ltd (ASX: HLS)
The Healius share price is down almost 7% to $1.25. This appears to have been driven by the release of a broker note out of Morgan Stanley. According to the note, the broker has reiterated its underweight (sell) rating on the pathology services company's shares with a $1.00 price target. Morgan Stanley has concerns that the company debt refinancing announcement is a sign that operating conditions have deteriorated further during the second half.
Iperionx Ltd (ASX: IPX)
The Iperionx share price is down almost 5% to $2.02. This has been driven by news that the titanium metal and critical materials company has completed an institutional placement. The company has received firm commitments for a placement of 26.2 million new shares at a discount of $1.91 per new share. This will raise gross proceeds of $50 million before costs. The proceeds from the placement will be used to scale titanium manufacturing capacity at IperionX's operations in Virginia. This includes new equipment at the Advanced Manufacturing Center, final design, and engineering studies to increase titanium production capacity to ~2,000 metric tons per annum.
Iress Ltd (ASX: IRE)
The Iress share price is down 4% to $8.11. Investors have been selling this financial technology company's shares after it released an update on unauthorised access to its user space on GitHub. Management advised that in the course of the investigation, it has now been discovered that a credential within Iress' GitHub user space was stolen and used to gain access to Iress' OneVue production environment. The OneVue production environment contains client data and Iress is investigating the extent and nature of the data accessed. At this time, it has found no evidence that the remainder of Iress' production environment, software or client data has otherwise been compromised.
