Australian biotech market watch 30/10/09

After a spike this morning, the All Ordinaries has levelled out, up 80 points to 4,657 as of 3.45pm this afternoon. The early interest came on the back of positive indications the US economy was beginning to bounce back after Wall St had its best day in months.

The health indices didn't fare as well as the All Ords, being weighed down by Cochlear (ASX:COH), which fell $1.06 to $63.42, and CSL (ASX:CSL), which shed 34c to $31.56. The third of the Big Three, ResMed (ASX:RMD) stayed level.

The health care providers also took a hit, with Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) dropping 26c, or 1.8%, to $13.99, Primary Health Care (ASX:PRY), losing 7c to $6.12, and Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC) also down around 1% to $10.55.

Surgical glove and condom supplier, Ansell (ASX:ANN), had a day of ups and downs, and is currently up 10c, or 1%, to $10.28.

Blackmores (ASX:BKL) saw an early push, rising $1.70 to $22.40 in low volume morning trading.

Big gains were seen by Greencross (ASX:GXL), which rose 13.5% to $0.885, and Alchemia (ASX:ACL), up 9.23% to 71c.

Acrux (ASX:ACR), which received the AusBiotech-Roche 2009 Excellence Award for outstanding contribution to the biotechnology industry, put on 9c today to $1.99.