Market report: Jitters return following poor U.S economic data

Australian shares slumped to a fortnightly low on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the U.S and Europe as well as uncertainty surrounding incoming Prime Minister Julia Gillard's plans for the proposed resources super profits tax (RSPT)

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index shed 66.7 points on Friday to end the week down 3.2 percent, the first weekly loss in three weeks, while the All Ordinaries ended the week down 1.4 percent.

A weak lead from Wall Street provided the heaviest weight on th market today. U.S investors there were spooked by poor housing and jobs data, which merely added to perenenial concerns about Europe. Also, investors are thought to be exercising caution in anticipation of the G20 Summit, kicking off in Toronto tomorrow, and which is expected to produce some key economic announcements.

Not surprisingly Australian health and biotech stocks saw some heavy selling today, ending off a fairly lucklustre week. The S&P/ASX 200 Healthcare Index fell a full 1.62 percent today.

Bioimpedance specialists ImpediMed would have been wondering what it has to do to impress the market. After today’s announcement of having received the all-important category III coding for its flagship product in the U.S the company’s shares finished down 6.45 percent to $0.58.

Other losers included spray-on skin specialists Avita Medical, down almost eight percent as investors continued to take profits following last week’s announcment of successful patient trials in the U.S. Diagnostics company Healthlinx lost 8.33 percent today to close at $0.11.

Some companies did however manage forays into positive territory today, led by diabetes play Living Cell Technologies, which put on two cents to close up over nine percent at $0.24.

Index leader CSL fell almost three percent on heavy trade of 2.4 million. Looking at the other major players, Cochlear added a dollar to close at $77.38, while Resmed gave up almost a percent to end today at $61.39. Also doing well, Starpharma Holdings gained 3.77 percent to finish the day at $0.55.