Closing Bell: Tech stocks in demand ahead of Tesla results; Osteopore up 130pc on clinical trial news

Estimated read time 8 min read

The ASX extends its gains on Tuesday
Tech stocks rallied ahead of US megacap earnings, while goldies struggled
Tesla, along with Alphabet and Spotify, will release results tonight

 

The ASX200 lifted on Tuesday, up by +0.45% after tracking the dip buying rally on Wall Street.

The Industrials sectors trailed all other sectors, while traders swarmed on to tech stocks ahead of quarterly updates from the US tech megacaps  this week.

 

Source: MarketIndex

 

The ‘Magnificent 7’s earnings will particularly be in focus amid the recent tech slump. Tesla is reporting its results today (US time).

“If big tech earnings and Friday’s inflation data disappoint, that could extend the duration and depth of this current stock market correction,” said Jeremy Straub at Coastal Wealth.

Bank stocks also rallied today while gold stocks struggled heavily, with the ASX All Ordinaries Gold (XGD) index tanking by -4% as the bullion price fell to below US$2,306/oz in Asian hours.

Bullion prices have been dropping in the last two days after tensions in the Middle East eased down a notch. 

“I don’t think gold goes all the way back to US$2,000 or below, but we could see US$2,100 before the end of the (US) summer,” Chantell Schieven of Capitalight Research told Kitco News.

The Aussie dollar meanwhile has rebounded from its 5-month low of US63.6c last week to trade at US64.59c at this time of writing. 

 

Elsewhere today…

Australian asset manager First Sentier Investors  said it was shutting down four funds focusing on Australian fixed income, global credit, dividend stocks, and emerging stocks.

The funds, which are managed out of Sydney, account for about $14bn or 6% of Sentier’s overall funds under management.

Australian-based asset managers are in general facing a challenge as the country’s massive pension sector increasingly chooses to create their own in-house investment operations.

Meanwhile, stock markets in Asia mainly rose today as the focus turns to the US corporate earnings season.

This week is the busiest week in the US’ earnings season, as about 180 S&P 500 companies (or 40% of the index) will give their trading updates to the market. 

Companies to report their earnings tonight include: Tesla, Alphabet, Spotify, General Motors, and McDonald’s.

 

 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 OSX Osteopore Limited 0.380 130% 2,283,433 $1,704,234 AUG Augustus Minerals 0.040 33% 6,849,513 $2,561,100 E33 East 33 Limited. 0.017 31% 1,480,796 $6,982,153 SRT Strata Investment 0.180 29% 54,353 $23,719,301 RCR Rincon 0.041 24% 16,106,663 $7,297,995 DMG Dragon Mountain Gold 0.011 22% 26,326 $3,552,045 M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.017 21% 20,944,475 $45,248,935 SUM Summitminerals 0.120 21% 4,435,551 $4,718,056 ZNO Zoono Group Ltd 0.060 18% 72,351 $10,899,927 LU7 Lithium Universe Ltd 0.027 17% 837,900 $9,469,029 JBY James Bay Minerals 0.210 17% 73,059 $5,877,900 ORN Orion Minerals Ltd 0.021 17% 9,895,032 $105,233,124 H2G Greenhy2 Limited 0.007 17% 395,494 $2,512,535 TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.004 17% 3,455,709 $20,267,144 TSI Top Shelf 0.185 16% 23,531 $33,388,138 FFF Forbidden Foods 0.015 15% 256,754 $2,953,905 MXO Motio Ltd 0.023 15% 34,247 $5,363,967 AXN Alliance Nickel Ltd 0.039 15% 241,866 $24,678,547 FHS Freehill Mining Ltd. 0.008 14% 1,128,755 $20,970,911 GTI Gratifii 0.008 14% 3,164,226 $11,284,315 PL3 Patagonia Lithium 0.120 14% 10,000 $5,158,493 APS Allup Silica Ltd 0.048 14% 83,355 $1,616,038 L1M Lightning Minerals 0.103 14% 827,842 $3,800,256 CY5 Cygnus Metals Ltd 0.083 14% 518,412 $21,283,817

WordPress Table Plugin

 

Augustus Minerals (ASX:AUG) says it may have have its copper targets at Tiberius and Claudius after releasing its rock chip assays today. Assays include a ripping 17.8% copper and 282g/t silver at Tiberius, which is currently 3m wide and 200m along strike. At Claudius, 11km to the south, results have outlined a number of parallel zones over 100m by 300m at grades of up to 6.6% Cu and 86g/t Ag.

Rincon Resources (ASX:RCR) jumped after reporting news of a string of new gravity targets to prioritise for drilling around its West Arunta ground. Those four new prospects are called K1, K2, Sheoak and Avalon, with three existing targets in the Pokali iron-oxide copper-gold prospect at Arrow, Dune and Surprise also enhanced by the ground gravity surveys. A program of works application has been submitted with WA’s mines regulator to enable RC drilling at all targets.

James Bay Minerals (ASX:JBY) says a field program is expected to start in the next four weeks to follow up airborne surveys, data from neighbouring properties and desktop studies completed since last year’s listing. “Our focus now is on ensuring that we target low-hanging fruit across all areas of the La Grande Project. This will ensure that we deploy capital efficiently on well-established targets,” said JBY’s executive director, Andrew Dornan.

Investors are continuing to digest Orion’s (ASX:ORN) big copper discovery at Flat Mine East, part of the Okiep project. That drill hit, by the by, was 49m at 4.86% Cu, well into the 99th percentile when it comes to copper discovery holes. The dual Australian and Johannesburg listed explorer also holds the fully permitted Prieska copper and zinc project.

Osteopore (ASX:OSX) popped big on news of the start of first-in-human clinical trials for knee preservation in Singapore, where the medtech specialises in “3D-printed biomimetic and bioresorbable” implants. Its first patient was treated for knee preservation with Heparan Sulphate 3 (HS3) and aXOpore via a High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO) at the National University Hospital (NUH), Singapore.”

Battery Age Minerals (ASX:BM8) says exploration targeting has begun at its Bleiberg Zinc-Germanium Project in Austria. It announced “senior geologists” had returned from Austria, “where they successfully accessed, collated and digitised over 100 years of historic mining data from the Bleiberg Zinc-Lead-Germanium Mine”. At time of its closure, the Bleiberg mine was the sixth largest producer of germanium globally and one of the largest outside of China.

Cyclone Metals (ASX:CLE) returned to the bourse with results of Phase 1 of the pilot plant test work for its flagship magnetite Iron Bear project. And the bourse liked what it saw. It also popped a quick 50% with $50k shares trading hands early on excitable quotes from CEO Paul Berend such as this: “The first phase of the pilot test work confirms the exceptional metallurgical properties of the Iron Bear deposit. We were able to produce one of the highest quality magnetite concentrates in the world with very high yields in an industrial setting.”

 

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 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.001 -50% 1 $4,352,462 ERL Empire Resources 0.002 -33% 5,000 $3,338,805 MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.002 -33% 6,000 $8,810,939 ATP Atlas Pearls Ltd 0.115 -32% 7,918,912 $73,715,804 ME1 Melodiol Glb Health 0.004 -30% 86,985,178 $2,690,966 MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.002 -25% 5,359,482 $15,569,766 MTL Mantle Minerals Ltd 0.002 -25% 1,107,353 $12,394,892 HAL Halo Technologies 0.090 -25% 294,573 $15,436,367 HTA Hutchison 0.028 -22% 59,875 $488,610,309 BYE Byron Energy Ltd 0.060 -22% 2,642,348 $83,066,482 VIT Vitura Health Ltd 0.125 -22% 12,112,811 $92,139,806 GBZ GBM Rsources Ltd 0.012 -20% 5,585,365 $17,350,333 EXL Elixinol Wellness 0.004 -20% 17,564,470 $6,505,370 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.004 -20% 1,233,334 $1,520,402 MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.004 -20% 1 $3,559,815 NRZ Neurizer Ltd 0.004 -20% 8,734,375 $7,507,054 ODE Odessa Minerals Ltd 0.004 -20% 501,348 $5,216,413 NMR Native Mineral Res 0.023 -18% 225,145 $5,875,814 PAA Pharmaust Limited 0.240 -17% 6,370,811 $114,553,964 AS1 Asara Resources Ltd 0.010 -17% 1,701,647 $10,586,104 AYT Austin Metals Ltd 0.005 -17% 434,474 $7,711,148 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.003 -17% 1,250,001 $13,455,161 NTM Nt Minerals Limited 0.005 -17% 128,571 $5,159,417 OAU Ora Gold Limited 0.005 -17% 2,000,000 $34,836,005 OSL Oncosil Medical 0.005 -17% 11,980,500 $13,533,247

WordPress Table Plugin

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Culpeo Minerals (ASX:CPO) has started diamond drilling at the Lana Corina prospect along Chile’s renowned coastal copper belt to extend broad zones of identified high-grade copper and molybdenum mineralisation.

European Lithium (ASX:EUR) has used its balance sheet and shares held in Critical Metals Corp (NASDAQ: CRML) to acquire the Leinster project in Ireland to advance the development of Europe’s critical minerals supply chain.

Future Battery Minerals’ (ASX:FBM) recent field mapping at the Miriam project in WA has identified 11 outcropping pegmatite units that require follow-up exploration.

Horseshoe Metals (ASX:HOR) is accelerating development of direct shipping ore operations at its Horseshoe Lights copper project to deliver early cash flow.

James Bay Minerals’ (ASX:JBY) desktop studies have identified 340 targets at its La Grande project in Quebec’s prolific James Bay region that warrant further investigation due to their potential link to pegmatite outcrops.

Leeuwin Metals (ASX:LM1) will launch a significant drill campaign to test multiple high-grade spodumene-bearing pegmatites at its Cross Lake lithium project in Manitoba province, Canada.

Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) has appointed graphite and battery anode specialist consultant Dr Surinder Ghag as its chief technology officer for graphite as it continues to progress development of its top tier Kasiya rutile and graphite deposit.

Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) has started Phase 3 exploration at its Jequie REE and niobium project in Brazil’s well endowed Bahia state close to the 510Mt Rocha de Rocha REE project. The work consists of detailed geological mapping, rock chip sampling, stream sediment sampling and grid soil sampling to identify priority targets ahead of maiden drilling. Targets were prioritised based on enhanced measured outcrop radioactivity associated with favourable host rock lithologies that were also coincident with elevated airborne thorium anomalies.

Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM) has completed the farm-out of its non-gold mineral rights at its Davyhurst tenement package, 100km northwest of Kalgoorlie, to Wesfarmers (ASX:WES). The company will receive $4.29m on 30 April, at which point it has received the full $26 million cash consideration due under the transaction. It will also receive a 2% net smelter royalty for all other minerals. It will receive a further $4m from Hawkes Point for effectively on selling 1.5% of the 2% royalty.

 

TRADING HALTS

N/A.

 

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Australian Mines, Ora Banda Mining, Culpeo Minerals, European Lithium, Future Battery Minerals, Horseshoe Metals, James Bay Minerals Leeuwin Metals and Sovereign Metals are Stockhead advertiser, they did not sponsor this article.

The post Closing Bell: Tech stocks in demand ahead of Tesla results; Osteopore up 130pc on clinical trial news appeared first on Stockhead.

You May Also Like