The Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price has lost a quarter of its value over the past four weeks.
The ASX rare earths share finished the session on Friday at $6.33, up 0.64% for the day.
A month ago it was trading around the $8.50 mark.
So, what’s happened?
Why is the Lynas share price tumbling?
The Lynas share price has reset its 52-week low seven times this month.
The newest low came yesterday when Lynas shares dipped to $6.18 in intraday trading.
Lynas’ fall began in early February when it was trading up around the $9.70 mark.
There has been a series of challenges.
In early February, Lynas’ Malaysian licence was renewed, but with an environmental condition that means Lynas will have to close its cracking and leaching plant at the end of FY23 if it can’t get an exemption.
The company has launched an appeal and time will tell us the outcome.
In late February, Lynas revealed a 32% cost increase in its 1H FY23 results, which of course the market didn’t like. Down the Lynas share price went.
A few days later, electric vehicle (EV) giant Telsa Inc announced it won’t use rare earths in its next-generation electric vehicles.
The market panicked, sending ASX rare earths shares tumbling. The Lynas share price dropped 6.8%.
Many experts said this was an overreaction, but as we all know, that sort of thing is common in markets! Negative sentiment and confusion can easily send share prices south.
What else is going on for Lynas?
The only price-sensitive news out of Lynas this month is actually positive. The company reported a $200 million investment by the Japanese Government on 7 March.
Not much else is going on, although yesterday Lynas did update the ASX on the holdings of its CEO Amanda Lacaze.
The notice revealed that Lacaze exercised some performance rights on Wednesday. This resulted in the acquisition of 147,433 Lynas shares through her family trust.
