In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record another decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 8,777.8 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
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29Metals Ltd (ASX: 29M)
The 29Metals share price is down 31% to 42.7 cents. The catalyst for this has been the copper miner undertaking an equity raising. 29Metals revealed that it has raised $119 million from institutional investors at an offer price of 40 cents per new share. This represents a 35.5% discount to its last closing price of 62 cents. 29Metals' CEO, James Palmer, commented: "This equity raising is expected to allow us to maintain our commitments to our strategic growth objectives to accelerate value realisation across the portfolio. Specifically, the ongoing investment in Gossan Valley, progression of a Restart Definitive Feasibility Study at Capricorn Copper and drilling to test priority exploration targets across the portfolio."
Navigator Global Investments Ltd (ASX: NGI)
The Navigator Global Investments share price is down 3.5% to $3.10. This may have been driven by a broker note out of Morgans. According to the note, the broker has downgraded the investment company's shares to an accumulate rating (from buy) but with an improved price target of $3.71.
Praemium Ltd (ASX: PPS)
The Praemium share price is down 6.5% to 78.5 cents. This morning, this investment platform provider released its second quarter update. Praemium revealed a 14% increase in funds under administration to $70.5 billion. This may have been softer than the market was expecting. The company's CEO, Anthony Wamsteker, was pleased with the quarter. He said: "The December quarter continued to see strong inflows into Spectrum. We are pleased that the demand we're seeing reflects the strength of our offering and the opportunity to grow our market share in the HNW segment. Since launch we have achieved $1.4 billion in new business gross inflows."
Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO)
The Xero share price is down 4.5% to $99.43. This has been driven by broad weakness in the tech sector on Wednesday following a poor night of trade on Wall Street's Nasdaq index. It isn't just Xero that is falling today. Almost all tech stocks are being sold down. This has led to the S&P/ASX All Technology Index dropping 2.75% at the time of writing.
