Market report: Biotechs up for fourth week in a row

The S&P/ASX 200 Heathcare Index close in the black for the fourth week in a row today, partly buoyed by a strong come back from the wider market.

The healthcare index continued its move towards 9000 points, adding 81 to close on 8737.2, while the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index snapped its losing streak, closing the week up 2.1 percent to 4694.2 points.

Looking abroad, Asian stocks were mostly up for the week following a strong few days as investors reacted to further positive news on the U.S economy, which helped to offset ongoing uncertainty in Europe, especially surrounding the failing Irish economy.

Among the local healthcare majors, ResmMed was the best performer, up $1.26 to $33.44. Cochlear was steady, holding to its previous week’s eight percent gain, to close up 25 cents to $78.90, while CSL gained 28 cents to $35.28.

Looking at today’s top performers, HIV drug developer Biotron gained 7.69 percent to close at $0.14 as investors continued to warm to the company’s announcement earlier in the week of an independent U.S study confirming the importance of a protein central to its HIV program. Spray-on-skin specialists Avita Medical also pleased investors, its shares gaining 4.55 percent to $0.115 after it briefed the market mid-week on its progress entering the Chinese and Taiwanese markets.

Among the worst performers today, catheter makers CathRx slipped 11.54 percent to $0.23.