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Even the slightest disappointment can lead to big falls in the current environment
Thursday 24 Sep 2020 Author: Martin Gamble

Increasing investor anxiety is leading to bigger share individual price moves on a daily and weekly basis and the last week was no exception with a number of large fallers.

Engineering group Rolls-Royce (RR.) was forced to release a statement after increasing speculation that the company was planning to raise new funds, leaving the shares down 24% between 14 September and 21 September and hitting a 16-year low of 157p.

Rolls said it was considering its options which included raising up to £2.5 billion through a rights issue and potentially other forms of equity issuance. It also didn’t rule out issuing more debt. Matters were made worse when the government increased the Covid-19 alert threat which hit  airline stocks.

One of the biggest casualties was digital payments group Network International (NETW) whose shares slumped 40% to £12.98 despite no new fundamental information coming to light.

Management rushed out a statement saying it ‘is not aware of any reason to justify the (share price) move and is pleased to report that the trend of improving volumes in directly acquired domestic TPV – reported for July with our interim results - has continued in August and early September’.

The shares made some recovery following the purchase of shares by senior management, demonstrating their confidence in the business.

Banks were on the back foot yet again as leaked documents known as the ‘FinCEN (The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) files’ highlighted over $2 trillion of transactions that may have related to financial crimes.

Relating to the period between 2000 and 2017, the documents raised concerns about suspicious transactions at a number of banks including HSBC (HSBA) and Standard Chartered (STAN), with HSBC hitting its own 25-year low.

Having been one of the biggest gainers in the prior week after launching a ‘ground breaking’ Covid-19 screening device, in conjunction with British start-up iAbra, electronics firm TT Electronics (TTG) went into reverse , falling 36% to 178p. Some digging by the Financial Times revealed the four-man start-up didn’t have any orders with Heathrow airport after all.

Shares in oil giant Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) traded at £9.84, the first time they have been below £10 in 20 years, underlining the challenges conditions that face oil companies in the face of rapid climate change.

One of the few winning shares over the last week was printed circuit technology firm Trackwise (TWK:AIM) which soared 46% to 173p after winning a three-year manufacturing agreement with a UK electrical vehicle maker, worth up to £38 million.

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