Shares Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) fell in early trading on Friday on the back of a plunge in one of its largest investments, gene sequencing company Illumina.
Nasdaq-quoted Illumina dropped almost 17% in after-hours trading after it swung to a loss in the past quarter and cut its guidance for the year. The shares were already down 40% so far this year.
The California-based medical technology group, which specialises in the analysis of genetic variation and biological function, is the fourth largest holding in the FTSE 100 investment trust's portfolio, at 4.4% of the total.
This makes it of significant interest to many UK investors, as Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is the most widely held trust by retail investors.
Illumina's revenue grew less than expected in the second quarter and it reported a US$535mln loss compared to a profit of US$185mln a year ago.
Scottish Mortgage shares fell over 2% to 905.2p.
Its other larger holdings, Moderna, Tesla and ASML are down 27%, 28% and 29% so far this year.
SMT's top ten holdings
- Moderna 8.3%
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) 6.7%
- ASML 6.6%
- Illumina 4.4%
- Tencent 3.8%
- Meituan 3.2%
- Amazon.com 3.0%
- Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) 2.9%
- Northvolt 2.8%
- Kering 2.6%
- Total44.3%