April 17, 2005 -- Last week, biotech did well by standing pat. Over the course of the week, the Centient Biotech 200 gained a fairly negligible 2.6 points or .08% to close at 3180. By itself, that isn’t much, but against the backdrop (which in this case was quite a drop) of the larger market, biotech put on a truly outstanding performance. The NYSE Composite lost 3.1%, and Nasdaq was 4.6% lower. During the week, the relative outperformance of biotech was due to one stock: Genentech, which rose 20%, adding on $11.69 to end at $69.35. At 3180, the CBT 200 has clawed its way 4.4% higher off the 52-week lows it set earlier this month. It remains, on the other hand, a full 15.41% below the highs of almost a year ago. So far this year, the index is 11% below where it started. We slice and dice the numbers further...
