Thanks partly to a strong finish to the week by Australia's big four banks, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.3% last week to end it at 6,669.2 points.
Whilst a good number of shares pushed higher over the period, a few came under pressure and dropped deep into the red.
Here's why these were the worst performers on the benchmark index last week:
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price was the worst performer on the ASX 200 index last week with a disappointing decline of 16.4%. This latest decline means the shares of the global leader in the development of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence have now lost almost a third of their value since peaking at $32.00 in July. This appears to have been driven by a combination of profit-taking in the tech sector and concerns over its Figure Eight business.
The Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price wasn't far behind with a sizeable 16.1% decline last week. The fast-growing healthcare technology company's shares have come under pressure this month since revealing that two of its founders have sold 1 million of the company's shares each. Executive director Anthony Hall and CEO Sam Hupert sold the shares through an underwritten block trade for a total of $36.1 million each. Its shares are now trading 22% lower than the price the two founders received for their sales.
The Bravura Solutions Ltd (ASX: BVS) share price was a poor performer last week with a decline of 13.6%. With no news out of the provider of software products and services to the wealth management and funds administration industries, this decline appears to be down to general weakness in the tech sector last week. This could have created a buying opportunity for investors, because late last month analysts at Macquarie gave its shares an outperform rating with a $5.55 price target. This is notably higher than its last close price of $4.19.
The IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) share price took a tumble last week and finished it 12.9% lower than where it started it. This appears to have been driven by profit-taking after an incredible share price gain in 2019. Even after this disappointing week, the student placement and language testing company's shares are up 51% since the start of the year.
