ASX climbs further, buoyed by mining and health stocks
RBNZ keeps its cash rate at 5.5pc despite recession
US inflation print due later today, keeping traders on edge
Mining and healthcare stocks pushed the ASX200 to another higher close, up +0.25% on Wednesday.
Gains in Mining mainly tracked the rally in iron ore giants BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), as the ferrous metal trades at a two-week high.
Commodity traders are recently bullish on iron ore on hopes of new measures in China that may bolster the country’s struggling steel industry. April and May are also traditionally China’s busiest period for construction, with some blast furnaces already on standby.
Goldies also lifted today after the bullion price touched briefly above US$2,380 an ounce overnight, extending its rally to hit a new record.
In the healthcare sector, main movers include Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG), which gained 5%, and market darling Neuren Pharma (ASX:NEU) which also gained +2% – both on no specific news.
Over the pond, the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) kept its cash rate at 5.5%, which was expected by economists. The NZ economy is technically in recession after contracting in four of the past five quarters.
What’s happening elsewhere…
Chinese stocks in HK gained for the third consecutive day, led by by a rally in technology stocks.
But traders are on edge for the US CPI report for March, which will be released tonight when the ASX is closed.
“It will bring a piece of heavy-weight evidence to either validate or disapprove of the Fed’s view that the hotter-than-anticipated readings in the previous two months were just a bump,” IG Market’s Hebe Chen told Bloomberg.
US treasury yields have already dropped 5bp last night, suggesting traders are positioning themselves for a soft print.
Meanwhile in geopolitical developments, no progress was reported from the Israel-Hamas truce talk, as oil prices settled lower for a second straight day last night.
ASX LARGE CAP WINNERS TODAY:
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap ZIP ZIP Co Ltd.. 1.40 7% 20,046,213 $1,415,541,424 SMR Stanmore Resources 3.19 6% 1,268,871 $2,713,188,818 SIG Sigma Health Ltd 1.32 5% 6,024,515 $2,047,991,999 LTR Liontown Resources 1.35 4% 6,773,614 $3,139,725,587 CRN Coronado Global Res 1.19 4% 2,059,117 $1,919,539,521 WHC Whitehaven Coal 7.63 4% 4,973,123 $6,157,381,770 OCL Objective Corp 12.38 3% 3,933 $1,139,685,438 ANN Ansell Limited 26.29 3% 587,584 $3,173,302,157 SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.56 3% 11,531,662 $1,549,087,674 CIA Champion Iron Ltd 6.96 3% 793,668 $3,512,522,912 SEK Seek Limited 25.28 3% 412,791 $8,780,827,684 S32 South32 Limited 3.33 2% 18,805,347 $14,720,090,346 RMD ResMed Inc. 29.21 2% 967,749 $17,699,748,120 SIQ Smartgrp Corporation 10.01 2% 227,858 $1,300,603,708 SVW Seven Group Holdings 40.45 2% 491,777 $14,581,017,558 SQ2 Block 121.39 2% 68,005 $4,506,475,317 JHX James Hardie Indust 60.07 2% 305,068 $25,463,158,016 PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 3.96 2% 11,746,512 $11,646,640,947 EBO Ebos Group Ltd 31.83 2% 18,209 $6,011,337,422
ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS
Today’s best performing small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap FRS Forrestaniaresources 0.029 107% 39,354,726 $2,265,000 PSC Prospect Res Ltd 0.135 55% 6,314,637 $40,309,881 CNJ Conico Ltd 0.002 50% 2,005,517 $1,805,095 MKL Mighty Kingdom Ltd 0.003 50% 25,933,626 $1,322,533 TD1 Tali Digital Limited 0.002 50% 10,781,096 $3,295,156 TMR Tempus Resources Ltd 0.006 50% 1,855,682 $2,923,995 WTM Waratah Minerals Ltd 0.105 40% 1,877,845 $11,202,337 IEC Intra Energy Corp 0.002 33% 500,000 $2,536,172 NES Nelson Resources. 0.004 33% 500,000 $1,840,783 GTG Genetic Technologies 0.180 33% 253,193 $15,581,328 NWM Norwest Minerals 0.042 31% 3,429,130 $12,419,824 ABE Ausbondexchange 0.028 27% 28,299 $2,478,699 PHL Propell Holdings Ltd 0.011 22% 9,629 $2,505,043 BBT Bluebet Holdings Ltd 0.305 22% 687,187 $50,276,586 SPN Sparc Tech Ltd 0.305 22% 315,330 $21,411,419 CPN Caspin Resources 0.088 21% 739,320 $6,881,394 AYT Austin Metals Ltd 0.006 20% 2,546,014 $6,425,957 CAV Carnavale Resources 0.006 20% 2,065,857 $17,117,759 CHK Cohiba Min Ltd 0.003 20% 5,956,264 $8,970,610 OSL Oncosil Medical 0.006 20% 1,885,000 $11,277,706 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.006 20% 847,698 $20,650,533 M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.013 18% 57,835,367 $35,552,734 SRL Sunrise 0.870 18% 125,290 $66,768,349 SBM St Barbara Limited 0.270 17% 14,708,494 $188,133,187 EMH European Metals Hldg 0.310 17% 51,381 $32,753,496 WA1 WA1 Resources 15.030 2% 206,354 $901,644,551
Out in front today was Forrestania Resources (ASX:FRS), which revealed that it’s been poring over old exploration and digging dates, and had boots on the ground on-site, in its search for gold at the Ada Ann and Bonnie Vale North prospects, just north of Coolgardie, WA. The highlight of the announcement was a rock chip grab sample that contained 49g/t Au, found in previously unrecorded, historic drill spoils at Ada Ann, to go with other grab samples of 15.7g/t and 13.5g/t.
Other gold finds pushing gains include Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM), which reported maiden drilling at Spur, just 5km west from big gun Newmont Corporation’s (ASX:NEM) flashy Cadia Valley project (>50Moz Au, 9.5Mt Cu 1). Waratah’s Spur is also hosted in “equivalent Late Ordovician-aged geology” within the Molong Belt of mineralisation.
Drilling further into the details, latest assay results revealed an open zone of shallow gold mineralisation including: 22m at 1.92g/t Au from 11m, inc 5m at 6.69g/t Au from 24m.
Prospect Resources (ASX:PSC) has executed an agreement that will see Orpheus Minerals (ASX:ORP) exiting from its exploration projects in Zambia, and pay $1.0 million in fully paid PSC shares as partial reimbursement of prior exploration expenditure, along with three options to acquire ordinary PSC shares for every four shares issued, at 15 cents per share, expiring three years after issue.
Kula Gold’s (ASX:KGD) ultrafine soil sampling program has discovered the new Boomerang gold anomaly at its Marvel Loch project near the Southern Cross gold project. Drilling approvals are in place and a rig is ready to begin testing in the coming weeks.
During Q3FY24, Kinatico (ASX:KYP) said it earned $2.5m in SaaS revenue, an increase of 73% on pcp. Annualised SaaS revenue is now more than $10m. SaaS revenue for the quarter comprised 36% of Kinatico’s total Q3 revenue of $7.0m, a total that is an increase of 0.5% on pcp.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Today’s best performing small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap AXP AXP Energy Ltd 0.001 -50% 9,297,454 $11,649,361 MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.002 -33% 10,112,532 $8,810,939 WEL Winchester Energy 0.002 -33% 500,000 $3,061,266 SOM SomnoMed Limited 0.210 -30% 813,211 $32,354,969 1MC Morella Corporation 0.003 -25% 3,737,624 $24,715,198 RIL Redivium Limited 0.003 -25% 100,000 $10,923,419 RMX Red Mount Min Ltd 0.002 -25% 17,243,525 $5,347,152 TKL Traka Resources 0.002 -25% 40,000 $3,501,317 NVU Nanoveu Limited 0.018 -24% 1,823,873 $10,250,999 NMR Native Mineral Res 0.024 -20% 100 $6,295,515 SRR Saramaresourcesltd 0.024 -20% 725,382 $2,412,573 ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.004 -20% 324,946 $15,859,052 LNU Linius Tech Limited 0.002 -20% 18,777,000 $12,991,852 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.002 -20% 290,000 $11,212,634 NYR Nyrada Inc. 0.105 -19% 5,500,842 $23,323,131 VRX VRX Silica Ltd 0.073 -19% 1,217,560 $52,504,069 FZR Fitzroy River Corp 0.120 -17% 1,474 $15,653,366 MCL Mighty Craft Ltd 0.015 -17% 92,460 $6,572,379 BLZ Blaze Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% 1,366,051 $3,771,349 MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% 1,425,800 $4,271,781 TAS Tasman Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 101,000 $4,276,016 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.005 -17% 2,209,070 $35,370,402 YAR Yari Minerals Ltd 0.005 -17% 25,000 $2,894,147 ENX Enegex Limited 0.021 -16% 7,000 $9,222,900
Wildcat Resources (ASX:WC8) said drilling beneath the Leia deposit has discovered a thick lithium mineralised repetition named the “Luke Pegmatite”, with best intercepts of: 41.0m @ 1.0% Li2O from 267m. Meanwhile diamond drilling at Leia continues to return impressive new results including: 68.0m @ 1.4% Li2O from 337m.
Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) provided an update on field activities across the Dorchap Lithium Project in Northeast Victoria. Field reconnaissance of pegmatite targets highlighted by the LiDAR survey has been completed, with initial results received. Highlights include: Sample 70847 – 2m @ 2.35% Li2O – Boones North Dyke, and Sample 70840 – 5m @ 2.00% Li2O – Boones North Dyke.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) is looking to develop a base metal processing hub in the Pilbara underpinned by its Whim Creek project. This will offer third-party asset owners the opportunity to feed ore into a hub that will produce ~20,000tpa of copper equivalent metal per annum.
Aura Energy’s (ASX:AEE) successful drilling has identified two new areas of
extensive shallow, high-grade mineralisation at its Tiris uranium project, making a resource upgrade increasingly likely.
Great Southern Mining (ASX:GSN) is raising $1.8m through a placement of shares to investors and company directors to accelerate gold exploration at its Duketon project. Recent drilling at the Southern Star prospect has extended mineralisation up to 65m downdip.
Neurotech International (ASX:NTI) has reached a major milestone in its Phase II/III NTIASD2 clinical trial for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) after the last patient was treated.
Norwest Minerals’ (ASX:NWM) exploration in the lightly explored, but highly mineralised West Arunta region is bearing fruit with the company defining drill targets in the same rocks as WA1 Resources’ (ASX:WA1) mammoth Luni niobium discovery.
PharmAust (ASX:PAA) has secured ethics approval from Macquarie University to conduct an Open-Label extension study of monepantel (MPL) in patients with Motor Neurone Disease. This seeks to assess the long-term safety and tolerability of MPL as well as the biomarkers and efficacy endpoints of 12 patients who took part in the Phase 1 MEND study.
Sprintex (ASX:SIX) has secured a $3m loan from substantial shareholder China. Automotive Holdings and other lenders to ramp up production of its next generation clean air compressors to meet strong demand.
Viridis Mining & Minerals (ASX:VMM) has received the highest grade results to date from drilling at its Colossus REE project. Assays from maiden drilling at the Tamoyo East prospect in the northern region returned grades of up to 27,087ppm total rare earth oxides.
Bailador Technology Investments (ASX:BTI) says the merger of its investee company Rezdy with independent global tours and activities booking software providers Checkfront and Regiondo has provided significant value for shareholders. The combined company – RC TopCo, is poised to become a booking software leader in the $300bn+ tours and activity market.
First Lithium (ASX:FL1) has appointed experienced geological services group Pivot Mining Consultants to manage and conduct the maiden mineral resource estimate for its Mali lithium project.
Pivot has extensive consulting experience, undertaking due diligence studies, resource and reserve estimate studies and feasibility studies across many resource projects worldwide and has appointed Rob Barnett, who has 40 years’ experience as the competent person for the resource estimate work.
The company has reported multiple thick, high-grade hits at the Blakala prospect within the project. This is hugely encouraging as Blakala is one of only two Tier 1 priority lithium targets in Mali, the other being Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL) and Ganfeng’s giant 211Mt at 1.37% Li2O Goulamina project.
Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) has completed metallurgical testwork at its NW Array prospect that achieved strong gold recoveries of over 90%. The testing, which comes ahead of a maiden resource estimate, also found that the gold is free milling and recoverable using cyanide.
Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN) announced the execution of an option agreement with Australian Strategic Materials (ASX:ASM) to form a Joint Venture in which Caspin will farmout and retain a 25% free carry (up to a decision to mine) of the REE rights on the Mount Squires project in the West Musgrave region of WA. Caspin found heavy rare earths mineralisation at the greenfield-style gold and base metal project Mount Squires back in May last year.
TRADING HALTS
Forbidden Foods (ASX:FFF) – pending an announcement by the company in relation to a proposed capital raising.
Argenica Therapeutics (ASX:AGN) – pending an announcement by the company regarding a capital raising.
Tigers Realm Coal (ASX:TIG) – pending an announcement regarding the judgement made by the Federal Court of Australia on 9 April 2024 in relation to the declaratory relief proceedings commenced by the company. The Federal Court has dismissed the company’s application.
Aguia Resources (ASX:AGR) – pending an anticipated announcement by the Company regarding a proposed capital raising.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Bailador Technology Investments, Felix Gold, First Lithium, Anax Metals, Aura Energy, Felix Gold, Great Southern Mining, Kula Gold, Neurotech International, Norwest Minerals, PharmAust, Sprintex and Viridis Mining & Mineral are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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