Last Orders: ASX returns to the green, gaining 0.78 per cent

After yesterday’s drop, risk-on sentiment returned to Australia’s bourse today.

The ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 7,327 points while the ASX Emerging Companies Index rose 0.3% to 2,167 points.

Energy surprisingly dropped 1.91% after gaining substantially in the past couple of days but all other sectors were in green, led by tech which rose 2.82% and consumer staples which rose 1.86%.

Once again the top stock was a new IPO in Burley Minerals (ASX:BUR) ripping higher by 80%. Fellow listee Askari Metals (ASX:AS2) also had a positive debut gaining 20%.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Copper producer Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) secured the mining licence for its Motheo Copper Mine in Botswana. Revelling in this news was Sandfire’s contractor Perenti (ASX:PRN), which reminded shareholders the contract would deliver $648 million to its coffers over the 7 and a quarter year contract term.

Valor Resources (ASX:VAL) has snapped up five uranium projects in Canada’s Athabasca basin. The company says the purchases will take its landholding up to 98,600 hectares and that shareholders can expect results of a recent airborne survey to be published “very shortly”.

Annuity provider Challenger (ASX:CGF) saw 15% of its shares traded between Caledonia Investments and annuity provider Athene for approximately $720 million. Challenger’s CEO Richard Howes said the buy was a strong endorsement of Challenger’s market position and long term growth prospects.

Secos Group (ASX:SES) announced it would be establishing a Research and Development Centre to develop biopolymer products that are intended to replace conventional plastics. The company says it will invest $2 million over 3 years and its centre will be unique to Australia.

It’s rare to find stocks that have anything to do with Russia but Uscom (ASX:UCM), which is selling various monitoring and reporting devices including for heart health, sepsis, and even COVID-19, is one of them.

Today it told shareholders Russian regulators gave it authority to sell its USCOM 1A cardiac monitor device in the country after trying for approximately 3 years. It noted Russia has 150 million people, the world’s 12th largest GDP, a medical health spend of US$45 billion and potential to grow further with its aging population.

Gold producer Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) recommenced operations at its Bluebird underground mine in WA after temporarily suspending operations earlier this year. Bluebird is the third satellite underground mine feeding the company’s 1.8Mtpa processing hub at Meekatharra.