ASX Large Caps: Paladin up 10pc on US bid to bolster uranium supply, MinRes takes 10pc stake in Kali

Local shares dipped, led by losses in Mining
Aussie CPI softens to 4.3pc
Bitcoin volatile after SEC’s X account compromised

The ASX200 dipped by -0.7% on Wednesday, led by losses in the Mining and Energy sectors.

Local traders brushed aside the highly anticipated report from the ABS this morning, which confirmed that Australia’s inflation is heading in the right direction.

According to the report, consumer prices or CPI increased in the 12 months to November by 4.3%, much lower than the 4.9% reading in October. This was the lowest CPI reading since January 2022.

Items in the basket to have increased over the 12 months include: electricity prices, which rose 10.7% in the 12 months to November, and housing, which rose 6.6% in the same period.

Despite the slowdown, Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that inflation is still too high.

“It is still higher than we would like. What this number shows is that the government’s policies are helping to put downward pressure on inflation in our economy,” he said.

On the ASX today, uranium stocks gained ground after the US Department of Energy (DOE) said last night that it was exploring domestic supply of an enriched uranium fuel to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to be volatile, up and down 1% in the last few hours to US$46,139 after fake news circulated that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had approved spot-Bitcoin ETFs.

Gary Gensler, the SEC’s chairman, said the regulator’s account on X had been compromised, and someone not authorised has posted false information. Below is the tweet (reposted by crypto YouTuber Lark Davis) that the SEC claims was bogus.

BREAKING!

Bitcoin ETFs have been approved!

It’s real, it’s happening, the SEC just announced it! pic.twitter.com/4jGIkhc140

— Lark Davis (@TheCryptoLark) January 9, 2024

BIG CAP WINNERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap AWC Alumina Limited 1.14 16.33 24,776,815 $2,843,647,789 PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 1.17 10.38 47,865,999 $3,162,378,065 BOE Boss Energy Ltd 5.01 8.10 4,188,243 $1,892,060,348 AX1 Accent Group Ltd 2.04 5.99 1,713,844 $1,081,062,136 ASK Abacus Storage King 1.12 4.69 533,979 $1,399,519,655 TLX Telix Pharmaceutical 9.81 4.25 704,361 $3,046,268,087 RDX Redox Limited 2.36 3.51 91,873 $1,197,185,656 ORA Orora Limited 2.66 2.91 977,039 $3,466,229,843 SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 8.95 2.82 263,650 $1,155,679,020 HLS Healius 1.55 2.65 603,824 $1,096,361,235 APM APM Human Services 1.30 2.57 497,841 $1,160,235,162 NSR National Storage 2.25 2.51 957,619 $2,980,873,548 GQG GQG Partners 1.73 2.21 639,949 $5,005,978,175 ILU Iluka Resources 6.61 2.09 1,969,616 $2,756,428,994

WordPress Table Plugin

Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) rose 11% after the announcement from the DOE (see above).

Alumina (ASX:AWC) surged another 14.5%, adding to its 7% gain yesterday, following an announcement that it planned to fully curtail production at its Kwinana Alumina Refinery in WA, commencing in the second quarter of 2024.

Alumina, which is the Aussie vehicle for NYSE-listed Alcoa, said it will stop producing alumina at its loss-making Kwinana refinery by September. Alumina said the decision was in response to losses incurred at the refinery, together with its age, scale, operating costs and current bauxite grades.

The shares of mining services company, Worley (ASX:WOR), remained in trading halt since yesterday, pending a clarificatory announcement to the market. Order flows show that the shares will be down more than -2% when they come out of the halt.

BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap LTM Arcadium Lithium PLC 9.25 -8.14 4,480,577 $5,464,105,096 IGO IGO Limited 7.83 -7.34 3,782,811 $6,398,913,020 MIN Mineral Resources. 63.00 -6.13 769,478 $13,098,961,183 SNZ Summerset Grp Hldgs 9.60 -4.95 617 $2,366,241,958 LTR Liontown Resources 1.45 -4.75 6,771,597 $3,693,526,751 PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 3.69 -4.53 19,765,657 $11,616,546,268 LYC Lynas Rare Earths 6.27 -4.27 2,669,265 $6,122,247,901 NEM Newmont Corporation 57.43 -3.97 392,063 $10,478,251,560 DOW Downer EDI Limited 4.26 -3.62 702,922 $2,968,355,661 MCY Mercury NZ Limited 6.10 -3.33 12,549 $8,778,643,878 RMS Ramelius Resources 1.57 -3.24 2,516,751 $1,843,139,001 NIC Nickel Industries 0.64 -3.03 4,940,712 $2,828,634,521 SFR Sandfire Resources 6.57 -3.03 948,882 $3,093,838,575

WordPress Table Plugin

Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) fell -6% revealed that it has acquired a 9.97% stake in freshly listed lithium explorer, Kali Metals (ASX:KM1), which itself rose by almost 50%.

The post ASX Large Caps: Paladin up 10pc on US bid to bolster uranium supply, MinRes takes 10pc stake in Kali appeared first on Stockhead.