The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) may have recorded a decline of 1.4% in 2020, but things would have been much worse if it hadn’t been for a stunning final quarter rally.
Over the final three months of the year, the ASX 200 put on a record December quarter gain of 13.3%.
Unfortunately, not all shares joined in on the good times. Here are a few disappointments from the quarter:
Zip Co share price tumbles lower.
The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price may have continued its meteoric rise in the final quarter, but the same cannot be said for rival Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P). During the final quarter the Zip Co share price lost over 14% of its value. This was despite the company announcing further strong sales growth and deals with Facebook and Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN). Possibly weighing on its shares was the successful launch of PayPal’s buy now pay later offering, news that Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) had sold off its stake in the company, and its $150 million capital raising.
CSL share price underperforms.
The CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price had an uncharacteristically subdued quarter. The biotherapeutics giant’s shares fell 1.5% during the quarter, compared to a 13.3% gain by the index. There appear to have been a number of catalysts for this share price weakness. One catalyst was concerns over plasma collection headwinds in the US due to rising COVID-19 cases. This could weigh on immunoglobulins production costs in the future. Also hitting investor sentiment was news that its COVID-19 vaccine trial with University of Queensland was terminated. This was because the vaccine was interfering with certain HIV diagnostic assays.
Gold miners fall out of favour.
It was a disappointing quarter for gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). These two giants lost 17.5% and 7% of their value during the three months. This led to the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index falling almost 14% over the period. Improving investor sentiment thanks to positive COVID-19 vaccine developments weighed heavily on demand for safe haven assets and led to this underperformance.
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More reading
- Highlights from the ASX 200’s best ever December quarter
- ASX sector of the year: BNPL goes from strength to strength
- These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
- 2 important investment lessons from 2020
- The 5 worst performing ASX 200 shares of 2020
James Mickleboro owns shares of Westpac Banking. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of CSL Ltd. and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.
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