Australian biotech market watch 19/02/10

By Tim Dean
Friday, 19 February, 2010

The All Ordinaries has clawed its way from its low of 9 February, adding another 15.6 points as of midday today to reach 4,689.5, buoyed by retail and utilities stocks, but held back by a slump in IT stocks.

The health index, however, has performed substantially better than the All Ordinaries, as it has done since the outset of the GFC. The S&P/ASX 200 Health Care index is currently at 8,659.7, which is close to the highs it experienced over the new year.

The leader of the pack has been Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR), which gained 6.25% in morning trading to 17c, which is also up 17.2% since its announcement of the partnership to work on an ovarian cancer vaccine.

Biota Holdings (ASX:BTA) has also soared this morning, gaining 12c to $2.17, in heavy trading. This comes just two days after the company announced a net profit of $33.5 million for the half year, an increase of 364%, as well as positive trial results for Laninamivir in Japan.

Cochlear (ASX:COH) also had a good morning, adding nearly 2% to its stock, up to $64.73. ResMed (ASX:RMD) also managed to put on 11c, to $6.39, and CSL (ASX:CSL) gained 22c to $34.22.