Biotechs up after All Ordinaries surge

Life science stocks have enjoyed a boost alongside the broader share market, with stocks such as CSL (ASX:CSL) hitting historic highs.

The All Ordinaries has enjoyed its tenth straight daily increase, lifting the index 5.4% since the start of the calendar year, with biotech stocks rising with the tide.

Some, such as CSL (ASX:CSL), have reach all-time highs at $55.38, up 3.5% yesterday and another 0.6% today, a total increase of 2.74% since 1 January.

Cochlear (ASX:COH) saw a 0.8% bump in early trading yesterday, but slipped back to $81.50 as of around 2.30 pm this afternoon. However, its share price is a hefty 35% above where it was this time last year, having recovered from its recall slump.

Sirtex Medical (ASX:SRX) rose 68c since last Friday to $12.65, although it slipped slightly after midday back to $12.35. It has still pleased investors with an increase over the past several months.

The news about Mesoblast’s (ASX:MSB) clinical trial approval saw the company’s stock jump a few per cent to $5.78 after wallowing yesterday.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) saw fairly heavy trading yesterday, but still languishes at $1.26, having failed to recover ground since the recent FDA setback.

Impedimed (ASX:IPD) was one of the few to drop yesterday, although it more than made up for it with a 20% increase today to reach 9.6c, although this is well below its price of 56c at this time last year.

Analysts have claimed that the lower interest rates have driven more money from savings into equities in search of higher returns, thus buoying the market. The ASX has now had its strongest run of increases since the global financial crisis.