It’s lunchtime on Thursday and the benchmark local index has climbed its weary bones up and beyond the 7,030 mark. A decent effort, led by the blue chip financial and mining names.
At 12.04pm AEDT the S&P/ASX200 was up over 40 points, or +0.58%, at 7,035 points
Via MarketIndex
In fact the bubbly little Top 200 index has now retraced all which has been lost in the previous four weeks, after Wall Street eased back overnight. But local traders found excitement enough to cover a mixed session after China’s top central banker, People’s Bank of China governor Pan Gongsheng, said he reckons China can clock its annual growth target of 5% – smoothly – and that he would continue to back local lenders to get in and help pull the real estate sector out of the quagmire.
Following last week’s November to remember, US stocks have lost some momentum, but it’s an eight-day victory streak for the the S&P500, which managed to extend its winning ways overnight. The Nasdaq Composite, not to be outdone, has stretched the tech heavy streak to nine straight sessions of gains.
In company news, the big drag on today’s biggest drag – the local IT Sector – is software maker Xero (ASX:XRO).
The stock shed a lazy 9 or so per cent, when earnings missed estimates following weaker-than-anyone-thought-possible international sales.
Blood plasma giant CSL (ASX:CSL) is up 2%, bolstering healthcare gains.
The National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) is rising slowly after revealing a stouter annual cash profit up by +8.8% to $7.7bn, with a little extra in the divvy for sports fans.
On the lithium list today is Wildcat Resources (ASX:WC8) which has stormed higher this week on the news its Pilbara-based Tabba Tabba lithium project near Port Hedland delivered more exceptional results.
New assay results from the Leia pegmatite in the project’s Central Cluster have revealed Wildcat has hit 180m at 1.1% Li2O from 206m, adding further gravitas and proof that the company has a Tier-1 deposit under its boots.
The Leia pegmatite is now over 1.65km long, up to 180m wide, has been intersected to more than 350m vertical depth, and remains open laterally and at depth.
The Chris Ellison-backed digger is now looking to raise some $80m through an institutional placement at 76c a pop. That’s an 11% discount on the last closing share price.
The rate sensitive sectors are still making muchos hay. Healthcare leading gains, up some +1.2%. Energy stocks have been impacted by a lower oil price.
ASX SECTORS AT MIDDAY ON THURSDAY
Via MarketIndex
NOT THE ASX
Big Tech led US gains, while the Dow once again slipped, down by about -0.1%, snapping a seven-day run of gains.
The S&P 500 finished up just 0.1%, the Nasdaq Composite inched up by 0.08%. That ninth straight gain for a total of +8.3% is its best run in about two years, btw.
Without much directive data to guide traders, the rest of the Wall Street week will rely on Fedspeak and corporate earnings to steer the ship – and that makes for anxious trade when everyone’s suddenly awaiting Walt Disney and Bob Iger to save the day.
The mouse did a little of that, incredibly, and has risen +4% after hours.
Disney earnings beat expectations on ESPN+ profits and its theme parks, but weak ad revenue is first among a whole host of worries.
However, Iger is in the case. He intends to ‘aggressively manage’ Disney’s cost base, slash an additional US$2 billion off the bottom line and sell a bunch of its TV assets, which haven’t been performing like a Disney asset should.
Otherwise, it’s on to next week’s US CPI data drop as the next likely market driver,
Oh. The US 10-year yield fell another -5 points last night to 4.52% as Treasury’s latest hefty auction of said bonds found lukewarm demand.
US stock futures are lower on Wednesday night in the States, despite the continuation of the benchmark’s longest winning streak since November 2021.
US futures at 9.30pm, Wednesday in New York
Via Fox
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 9 November [intraday]:
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Krakatoa Resources (ASX:KTA) says RC drilling beneath high grade Li20 rock samples is complete at King Tamba in WA’s Mid-West with the program expanded after discovery of up to 39m thick pegmatite under the 4.3% Li20 rock chip at Wilsons prospect.
Thick pegmatites they say.
Here’s the shortest possible distance between two points:
• RC drilling beneath high grade Li20 rock samples is complete
• Drilling program expanded due to the discovery of up to 39m thick pegmatite under the 4.3% Li20 rock chip at Wilsons prospect
• 13 of the 16 drill holes intersected pegmatites with consistent intersections of flat-lying pegmatite logged from 70m vertical depth
More exciting, several samples fluoresced orange-pink under shortwave UV light:
Shiny! Via Krakatoa
Meanwhile, Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) has announced “outstanding economics” from a scoping study showing its Lake Hope project in WA to potentially be the lowest-cost producer of high purity alumina (HPA) globally.
And clinical stage immuno-oncology small cap Imugene (ASX:IMU), run by MD Leslie Chong, has been developing a portfolio of innovative new treatments for that spectacular global growth market called cancer.
The stock jumped earlier this week, after IMU dropped a promising clinical trial update of its Phase 1 MAST (Metastatic Advanced Solid Tumours) trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of novel cancer-killing virus CF33-hNIS (VAXINIA).
Also rising is OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6), which says results of phase 3 drilling at its Splinter Rock clay hosted REE project in WA have returned grades of up to 6,441ppm TREO with extensive clay thickness up to 77m at high grades and 77% of holes returned grades >1,000ppm TREO.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 9 November [intraday]:
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The post ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Healthcare stocks lead some frankly marvellous ASX gains on Thursday appeared first on Stockhead.
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