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Welcome to the end of Week 42. Looking at what HotCopper was watching this week, it felt a bit like 2022 – a lithium explorer and a battery anode developer came in among the hottest stocks.
WA-based Raiden Resources raised another $10M to expand its drilling program with most excitement driven by the fact it’s nearby a well-known lithium play.
Elsewhere, Anteotech inked a deal with a company owned by Mercedes to provide it with its battery anode material, “ultranode.” Worth noting: That latter announcement came in response to an ASX query.
Then there was biotech Percheron Therapeutics. Thousands had their eyes on a trading halt announcement posted midweek. On Friday, shares plunged 35% from 13cps to 8cps as the company raised $13M from insto investors – at a significant discount of 8cps.
Cue a sell-off to match the price.
Broadly, it was a choppy week for markets, but the overall mood on HotCopper is positive – the ASX hit a new record around 8,370pts mid week. In January, it was 7,600pts.
Wall Street, as ever, helped to see gains pared after having a few less-than-perfect nights. Earlier in the week, U.S. chip stock ASML helped tank the market when it posted a less-rosy-than-expected forecast for demand through 2025.
Yet another shock to the AI thematic quickly forgotten; in Taiwan, TSMC posted bumper profits around a day later, hitting a new record. NVIDIA, of course, uses TSMC tech. The great robot rally goes on.
Otherwise, it was kind of a boring week.
The ASX 200 didn’t like Australia’s still-too-hot-for-rate-cuts job market, but the RBA has been saying it won’t cut rates until H2CY2025 for more than a year now. It doesn’t help when forecasters from the likes of Commonwealth Bank say the RBA has it wrong and inflation isn’t that bad and cuts will come sooner. (At least one did this week.)
Then again, after Lowe basically guaranteed his resignation by calling rate cuts far sooner than he originally guided, you can’t blame people for being doubtful.
Chinese deflation data helped dent the fading stimulus push excitement early week, but markets were otherwise saved by U.S. earnings week, to which enthusiasm leapfrogged and kept rolling on. China’s Friday GDP data was a non-event; the Red Dragon remains troubled, but at least it’s waking up.
Worth noting is the world is clearly getting used to the Middle East being on fire once again: Israel says it’s killed the Hamas leader (who was in Gaza all along, apparently), and prices for both gold and oil hardly moved. That also suggests nobody really sees the war ending anytime soon.
It’s a bit like reading Blood Meridian (this finance journalist’s favourite book, I sense it may not shock the reader to find out).
Locally, all eyes are on the next big Australian data catalyst: Quarterly inflation data released on Wednesday October 30. In the meantime, we all have the nightly machinations of Wall Street to remain amused by.
From HotCopper, have a great weekend, and see you on Monday.
HotCopper’s most watched
- Anteotech jumps 27% on news Mercedes buying anode material
- Percheron shares sink -35% as company raises $13M – at 8c for instos
- Raiden Resource’s $10M insto raise prompts mixed reactions
Australian Economy
- CBA reckons Oz inflation is falling faster than RBA’s forecasts
- But 4.1% sticky unemployment rate unlikely to hasten RBA cuts
- Morningstar analysts see retail spending uplift in Oz to help consumer stocks ex-Bunnings
Australian Equities
- Web Travel dips -30% only weeks after Webjet spin-off; weak earnings blamed
- Woodside delisting from the London Stock Exchange
International Equities
- ASML helps tank NASDAQ midweek as 2025 microchip demand forecasts shock
- But TSMC rallies as it says the opposite, forecasting strong Q4 chip demand
Geopolitics
- Albo’s ALP falls behind LNP in poll for first time: Bloomberg
- Trump openly hints at using military against domestic US citizens who oppose him
