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Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close for Wednesday, I’m Jon Davidson. We’re changing the way we do Market Close moving forward, so the viewer should note price movements and commentary aren’t necessarily reflective of post-settlement, but rather the lay of the land towards the end of the day.
And in the last hour of trades, with Materials in the lead and utilities the only sector in the red, it was a pretty good day for the bourse as iron ore prices remain around US$104/tonne in Singapore. Gold prices also still in record territory, so the winners were obvious: BHP, Newmont, and so on.
Maybe the biggest news to take note of in the Wednesday Asian session is that Japan and Trump have inked a trade deal: Japan now faces 15% tariffs, but it also needs to invest half a trillion in the US. Make of that what you will.
So what companies were in the green?
Peter Warren Automotive Holdings was the top gainer today firmly in the green after a trading update got the market excited for earnings higher than expected, this news perhaps coming out of the blue for the $280M cap company.
Elsewhere, Whitehaven Coal jumped into the top gainers as coking coal prices have strengthened this week, that category of coal the type used by steelmakers for smelting ore.
Finally, outdoor retailer James Hardie also joined the top gainers in the final hour of trade, shrugging off increasing short seller pressure that came in the wake of its controversial buyout of US-based AZEK for $14B, a deal that more or less bypassed a shareholder vote.
And so what about the reds?
TELIX Pharmaceuticals the top laggard intraday after the company buried news of an SEC inquiry in yesterday’s earnings report, released after market close, with the US regulator apparently curious about some claims the company’s been making in announcements around its radiopharmaceutical product offerings.
Elsewhere, Paladin Energy the second biggest laggard intraday after the company revealed overall uranium production isn’t going to be quite as rosy as some market participants thought – just another day of volatility for hardened uranium bulls. Boss Energy took an intraday dip, too.
And Metallium Limited – formerly MTM Critical Metals – in the red on Wednesday in the final hour as that heavily traded company continues to witness a slight exhalation of momentum, though, with one year returns up seventeen hundred percent in the final hour, early buyers probably aren’t concerned.
That’s Market Close, I’m Jon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.
All information accurate as at 3.22pm AEST.
