Last Orders: ASX finishes the day down, tech rockets 2.81 per cent

The ASX 200 close 0.19 per cent lower than Friday at 7,282 points and the ASX Emerging Companies Index fell 0.53 per cent to 2,168 points.

Tech shares gaining 2.8 per cent although other sectors were more muted – REITs was the next best performer and it only gained 0.97 per cent.

One of the catalysts for tech’s success today was a $5 billion takeover bid for Altium (ASX:ALU) made by NASDAQ-listed Autodesk. Although Altium rejected the bid, saying the current price undervalued it, the receipt of such an offer was enough to send it up.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) lost three directors with the resignations of John van Ruth, Alan Sparks and Rosemary Batt being revealed en-masse. The move comes 6 weeks into an ASX suspension amidst an investigation into inflated revenues mistakenly reported to the board.

Telco stock Vonex (ASX:VN8) signed a term sheet with MNF (ASX:MNF) to acquire the latter’s SME focused cloud, internet and mobile services business. While the proposed consideration is $31 million is nearly as much as its market cap, it will be funded by debt and the company says it will materially expand its footprint of customers.

Beauty clinic operator SILK Laser (ASX:SLA) opened another two clinics in recent days – in Canberra and Newcastle – which takes it to 60 clinics. The company also updated its guidance for FY21 expecting pro forma earnings between $15 and $16 million and network cash sales between $82 million and $86 million.

Pure Hydrogen (ASX:PH2) gave shareholders an update on its gas project in Botswana. It says the first well of six was spudded late last week and it plans to drill to a depth of 450 metres.

TechGen (ASX:TG1) kicked off a electro magnetic geophysical survey at its Mt Boggola copper-gold project in Western Australia. It will consist of 320 line kilometres of surveying. and take 4 to 5 days to complete.

Less than a month since listing, aspiring goldie Australasian Gold (ASX:A8G) bought another gold project in Queensland at Mt Clermont. It will pay $100,000 in its own shares.