ASX December winners: Tech rises 8% to finish 2023 up 31%, smokes benchmark

ASX tech sector rises ~8.60% in December to finish 2023 up almost 31%
The US NASDAQ index rallied more than 44% in 2023, rising ~6% for December
Link Administration soars after agreeing to $1.2 billion takeover from Mitsubishi

The S&P ASX 200 Info Tech [XIJ] index was up ~8.60% in December and rose almost 31% in 2023, surpassing the benchmark ASX 200 [XJO] which rose more than 7% in December and was up 12% for the year.

The US NASDAQ index, the bellwether for the global tech sector, has also rallied by more than 44% in 2023 and was up ~6% for December.

The relentless strength of the Magnificent Seven Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla fuelled much of the gains.

Excitement around artificial intelligence built momentum for tech stocks in 2023, sparked by the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, leading to growth for a wide range of tech companies including semiconductors and cloud computing.

In 2024 analysts forecast the AI frenzy to continue. There is also optimism central banks are nearing the end of their rate hiking cycle and may even start making cuts as inflation starts to come down, further fuelling interest in growth stocks.

At a press conference in December, US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell says the central bank understands the dangers to the economy of leaving rates high for too long.

“We’re aware of the risk that we would hang on too long,” he told reporters.

“We know that’s a risk, and we’re very focused on not making that mistake.”

ASX 200 Information Technology (XIJ) Vs ASX200 (XJO) 2023

Source: Market Index

Here are the top ASX Tech Winners for December 2023

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Code Name Price % Change Market Cap FLX Felix Group 0.16 60% $32,719,954 LNK Link Administration Holdings 2.18 59% $1,125,724,709 YOJ Yojee Limited 0.004 56% $5,223,941 FBR FBR Ltd 0.028 40% $107,323,064 VNL Vinyl Group Ltd 0.071 37% $36,530,535 SLX Silex Systems 4.35 33% $1,026,365,426 SPA Spacetalk Ltd 0.0265 33% $12,361,613 CGO CPT Global Limited 0.145 32% $6,075,118 DTZ Dotz Nano Ltd 0.18 29% $92,499,279 NET Netlinkz Limited 0.009 29% $33,694,327 EVS Envirosuite Ltd 0.078 28% $98,420,403 VGL Vista Group Int Ltd 1.565 28% $369,720,361 AHI Advanced Health 0.125 25% $29,848,965 GTI Gratifii 0.01 25% $13,592,798 KYP Kinatico Ltd 0.12 25% $50,231,038 QOR Qoria Limited 0.28 24% $313,481,880 SQ2 Block 116.7 22% $4,096,665,158 ERD Eroad Limited 0.91 21% $173,731,760 DRO Droneshield Limited 0.375 21% $226,237,836 K2F K2Fly Ltd 0.11 21% $20,406,045 DSE Dropsuite Ltd 0.29 21% $198,386,246 WBT Weebit Nano Ltd 4.27 21% $803,078,388 OLL Openlearning 0.018 20% $4,821,643

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Link Administration Holdings (ASX:LNK) was well up in December after agreeing to a takeover by Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) in a deal that values the embattled superannuation fund and share registry administrator at $1.2 billion.

Japan’s largest financial group entered into a scheme of arrangement after agreeing to pay Link shareholders a 32.9% premium on the company’s most recent closing share price of $1.70 on December 15.

Formerly Jaxsta, the world’s largest dedicated database of official music credits Vinyl Group (ASX:VNL) announced in December it had inked a more than $10 million deal to acquire The Brag Media, publisher of the iconic Rolling Stone title in Australia and New Zealand.

The deal is being funded by WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) founder, CEO and keen muso Richard White.

After becoming a substantial shareholder of VNL in June, White has injected a further $11 million of funding by way of a placement and debt facility.

Also worth a mention, DroneShield (ASX:DRO) enjoyed a solid climb after announcing a raft of decent news for investors including the fact that as of December 5, the company had pocketed around $68.8 million in cash receipts since the start of 2023, a 440% increase year-on-year.

The company also made specific mention at the start of the month that it would be spending December working through $10 million worth of a $34 million contracted backlog, while increasing demand for its products and services has the company excited about a potential revenue pipeline of more than $400 million.

That is largely due to the developing need of its customers for better drone solutions, which the company says will be met by the latest “Tactical” iteration of its DroneSentry-C2 product.

DRO says DroneSentry-C2 “allows central command and control level capabilities for field-based operators to maintain awareness of multiple portable, on-the-move and fixed site systems in their area of interest”.

Here are the top ASX Tech Losers for December 2023

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Code Name Price % Change Market Cap IXU Ixup Limited 0.033 -37% $35,888,675 XPN Xpon Technologies 0.02 -33% $6,072,163 HTG Harvest Tech Grp Ltd 0.015 -32% $10,589,450 FL1 First Lithium Ltd 0.52 -28% $36,076,609 OPL Opyl Limited 0.028 -27% $3,344,503 AI1 Adisyn Ltd 0.017 -26% $2,744,643 ID8 Identitii Limited 0.018 -25% $7,744,284 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.006 -25% $1,824,482 NVQ Noviqtech Limited 0.003 -25% $3,928,336 OEC Orbital Corp Limited 0.105 -22% $15,309,707 BCT Bluechiip Limited 0.016 -20% $12,725,981 SCL Schrole Group Ltd 0.2 -20% $7,191,010 VR1 Vection Technologies 0.021 -19% $23,658,368 CF1 Complii Fintech Ltd 0.026 -19% $14,765,933 SMN Structural Monitor. 0.495 -18% $67,570,077 AKP Audio Pixels Ltd 8.18 -16% $238,938,618 MX1 Micro-X Limited 0.105 -16% $54,396,732 BRN Brainchip Ltd 0.1725 -16% $306,988,496 RKT Rocketdna Ltd. 0.008 -16% $5,217,808 GTH Gathid Ltd 0.016 -16% $4,214,686 1CG One Click Group Ltd 0.011 -15% $8,258,146 X2M X2M Connect Limited 0.04 -14% $7,303,738 NNG Nexion Group 0.013 -13% $2,630,002

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Software player XPON Technologies (ASX:XPN) announced in December it had completed the divestment of its UK based Application Modernisation (AppMod) business to Peppermint Innovation (ASX:PIL).

XPN says the divestment is expected to reduce its cash burn by ~$1.3 million annually while enabling the company to focus on its core Martech business and evaluate other strategic opportunities.

Identitii (ASX:ID8) fell after announcing the contract with HSBC Australia to build, maintain and service a bespoke regulatory reporting platform will not be renewed after it expires on December 31, 2023.

ID8 says the bespoke version of the Identitii platform built for HSBC Australia will be decommissioned. The company also announced in December it was selling 48% of its Payble shareholding to OIF Ventures for $1 million to extend its runway towards FY25.

The company says after the transaction, Payble will be valued at $10.5 million and ID8 retains a 10% shareholding.

Disclosure: The author held shares in Link Administration Holdings at the time of writing this article.

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