Making sense of technology stocks' recent volatility

TECHNOLOGY stocks in the United States have not been in the good graces of market participants in recent weeks. Take, for instance, the Nasdaq index, which has a heavy weighting (nearly half) towards companies in the technology sector. The index closed at a high of 14,095 this year on Feb 12, before falling by 10.5 per cent to 12,609 on March 8.

Many technology companies' share prices fared far worse over the same period. E-signature specialist DocuSign's share price declined by 27 per cent. Peloton, which sells its eponymous Internet-enabled indoor bikes, saw its share price fall 34 per cent.

Latin American e-commerce powerhouse MercadoLibre, digital payments provider PayPal, and e-commerce enabler Shopify, were down by 30 per cent, 24 per cent, and 26 per cent, respectively. Fiverr, which runs an online platform to connect freelancers with businesses looking for freelancing services, experienced a 39 per cent drop in its share price.