NEUER MARKT: Nemax-50 Falls to Post-September 11 Low
HB/sms FRANKFURT. Wednesday brought an acceleration of the downturn on Germany's Neuer Markt, with further panic-selling of index heavyweight Mobilcom pushing the growth segment's Nemax-50 of selected growth shares to the all-time lows that it established in the wake of September 11.
Mobilcom shares had already lost over 40% on Tuesday, owing to bankruptcy fears set off by the announcement that major shareholder France Télécom would be effectively pulling the plug on any further financing. On Wednesday, they lost a further 15.78% at 6.14 euros. Last week, they were worth 16 euros, And with bankruptcy apparently staring the company in the face, analysts see no end to the decline.
Mobilcom's decline pushed down the Nemax-50, which closed 4.22% lower at 682.14. The more comprehensive Nemax all-share index lost 3.66% at 734.41.
The number of Neuer Markt-listed companies that can be said to be of interest to institutional investors is now declining in tandem with companies' general market capitalization levels. No more than two dozen Neuer Markt companies now have a market value above 200 million euros. And even the heavyweight, highly capitalized companies – T-Online Qiagen , Medion , BB Biotech and Singulus – are not coming up with the kind of news that's likely to provide investors with any joy. Still, once the market does start to recover, these are the companies whose shares will profit first.
As a technology-heavy market, the Neuer Markt is suffering particularly acutely from the widespread pessimistic sentiment towards technology titles in the wake of the decision by mobile phone giant Nokia to revise down its sales outlook for the year.
This effect was particularly marked in the case of Nemax-50 heavyweight Dialog Semiconductor, which closed down 15.35% at 2.15 euros. Since the start of this month, the share price has lost more than 33% of its value. But it could have been slightly worse. In the morning, the share price fell to 2 euros, until the company's chief finance officer, Martin Klöble, denied that an announcement of bad news was in the pipeline.
Suess Microtec, meanwhile, closed down 7.7% at a new low of 24.60 euros. The share price has fallen by 20% since the start of June.