Australian biotech market watch 07/08/09

All good things... or so they say.

This week saw the mini-correction that some analysts suggest we had to have after a month of uninterrupted rises on the All Ordinaries, with it sitting at 4,290 as of 3.30pm this afternoon, down 0.9% for the day.

The health indices bucked the trend, however, rising a quarter of one percent in today's trading, up 2.5% over the week.

Leading the gains is ResMed (ASX:RMD), up nearly 3% to $5.23 after an announcement that second quarter net income is up 53%, much of the good news being due to currency shifts.

Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC) is also up around 2.5% today to $10.82, although much of that is recovering from a dip that started Thursday morning and drove the price down to $10.53.

Biota Holdings (ASX:BTA) has also had a good week, up 2% today to $2.05 - a gain of 6.8% from the week's opening price - mainly due to demand for the anti-viral, Relenza, for which Biota receives royalties.

Sonic Health Care (ASX:SHL) continues to recover from news competition watchdog was considering launching an investigation into pathology billing practices on July 22, returning to its price of $12.24 from that date.

Healthscope (ASX:HSP) took a dive midweek to a low of $4.23, but has recovered to $4.32 in today's trading.

Not much movement from the other two of the Big Three, CSL and Cochlear.