ASX Market Close: Elixir pops as Neil Young steps down; US futures green & more

Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close for Monday 14th of April, I’m Jonathon Davidson.

The local bourse traded green on Monday with IT in the lead up 2.6% led by Wall Street, followed by Materials up 2.1%, led by higher iron ore and gold prices.

US futures are currently pointing to a modest green session overnight, of course, a lot can change between now and then. It’s also earnings season in the US, big banks continue reporting this week.

As for companies in the green,

Droneshield jumped on Monday after it revealed a new batch of contracts with an existing Asian Pacific customer worth over $30M. Shares climbed back over $1.00/each, reminding some of the stock’s glory days last year. Shares closed at $1.04ea. 

Neuren Pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, jumped as the FDA all but greenlit the company’s upcoming Phase 3 trial treating children with Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, a rare disorder affecting chromosomes. Shares closed at $11.17 each, up over 20%. 

Finally, Elixir Energy ended green as longtime CEO Neil Young starts stepping down. The company’s Mongolian and domestic operations will now be overseen by former Strike Energy CEO Stuart Nicholls, who was the subject of more than one needling comment in a recent presentation given by Strike’s new management. Shares closed at 2.8cps.

And so what about companies in the red?

EBR Systems fell nearly -18% even as it confirmed the FDA approved its heart monitoring device for sale in the US. The catch is, the company doesn’t expect revenues to hit until early 2026, so it looked like investors reallocated into other stocks ahead of that milestone. Perhaps into Neuren. EBR ended down at $1.39 each, 

Elsewhere, while shares remain suspended, struggling gold miner Bellevue Gold announced it will be raising over $150M, ditching a plant upgrade and firing staff – all after receiving some concerns from insto shareholder Macquarie Bank. Bellevue’s new plan is now to close out hedging positions and exploit high spot market gold prices, presumably Macquarie offered some guidance there. Shares were unchanged at $1.15pcs.

Finally, Australian fintech minnow IODM fell just shy of -6% as the market shrugged at a presentation pitching its case to investors; the stock closed at 16cps.