In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a disappointing decline. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.5% to 7,449.9 points.
Four ASX shares that are falling more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
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A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)
The A2 Milk share price has continued its slide and is down a further 3% to $4.62. Investors have been selling the embattled infant formula company's shares in recent sessions after it copped two broker downgrades. Analysts are concerned over lockdowns in China and weakening reseller prices on Chinese ecommerce platforms. The A2 Milk share price hit a multi-year low at one stage today.
G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM)
The G8 Education share price is down 2% to $1.06. This morning the childcare centre operator provided a trading update. It advised that the high volume of omicron cases in all markets materially impacted revenue, occupancy performance, and employment costs in January and February and continued to flow into the early weeks of March.
Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA)
The Nearmap share price is down 3.5% to $1.34. This appears to have been driven by weakness in the tech sector and a broker note out of Macquarie. In respect to the latter, its analysts have downgraded the aerial imagery technology company's shares to a neutral rating with a $1.40 price target. The broker believes Nearmap may be too late to the party to win the North American claims insurance market.
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
The Zip share price has continued to slide and is down almost 6% to a new two-year low of $1.32. This follows weakness in the tech sector and the release of Afterpay's financials prior to its acquisition. The latter revealed that the Afterpay business recorded a loss of $345.5 million for the six months ended 31 December.
