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Market Watch - techMARK
Both major techMARK indices continued to track southwards with the market in recent weeks, falling perilously close to their respective six month lows along the way. In spite of the general downward trend, however, there were some significant falls for individual companies. Medical diagnostics business Ferraris fared worst of all as it declared a £23 million first-half loss, revealed plans to sell off its cardiac and respiratory businesses in order to reduce borrowings and announced its intention to slash overheads. These factors combined to send the group’s shares crashing by more than 50 per cent to 34p. A bad few weeks in the biotech sector also saw shares in drug developer Antisoma lose a quarter of their value. The fall accompanied news that, in spite of positive trial results, Swiss drugs giant Roche had decided to return the rights relating to two of Antisoma’s anti-cancer compounds. Over in the hardware sector, meanwhile, set-top box manufacturer Pace Micro Technology flopped 30 per cent on a full year profit warning, triggered by developmental delays relating to a range of products for the US market.
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