In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is out of form and on course to record a decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.25% to 8,511.4 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
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Brazilian Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: BRE)
The Brazilian Rare Earths share price is down 4.5% to $4.30. This may have been driven by profit taking from some investors after the rare earths developer's shares raced higher on Wednesday. Investors were buying Brazilian Rare Earths shares after it revealed that it has secured a Trial Mining Licence from Brazil's National Mining Agency for its Monte Alto project in Bahia. This allows for the extraction of up to 2,000 tonnes per annum of material from the deposit. The company's managing director and CEO, Bernardo da Veiga, said: "Securing the Trial Mining Licence is a significant milestone for Monte Alto and a major step forward in BRE's integrated ore-to-oxides development pathway in Brazil."
L1 Group Ltd (ASX: L1G)
The L1 Group share price is down 5.5% to $1.00. This morning, the fund manager previously known as Platinum Asset Management, revealed that it is launching a new investment company that is expected to be listed on the Australian share market next month. The L1 Gold Fund aims to deliver positive absolute returns for shareholders over the medium to long term through investment in domestic and international gold sector securities, as well as a secondary allocation in the other precious metals sector.
Silver Mines Ltd (ASX: SVL)
The Silver Mines share price is down 4.5% to 16.7 cents. This appears to have been driven by another pullback in the silver price overnight. This is down approximately 38% from the high it reached in January. A stronger US dollar and inflation concerns have been weighing on both the silver and gold price this month.
Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO)
The Xero share price is down 3% to $72.59. This is despite there being no news out of the cloud accounting platform provider on Thursday. However, it is worth highlighting that most ASX tech stocks are falling today, reversing some of the strong gains they made on Wednesday. This has seen the S&P/ASX All Technology Index tumble 1.8% at the time of writing.
