Good afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close, I’m Jonathon Davidson.
The ASX finished up around 8,400 points after flirting with the 8,410 level throughout the day. The market’s in a better mood on Wednesday after Trump’s latest China tariff push appears softer than feared.
Discretionary was the leading sector of a green Wednesday up around one percent, followed by telecomms up around nine tenths of a percent and financials up eight tenths.
Looking around the traps, we saw Lake Resources and Leo Lithium divest lithium assets today, and, Macquarie Bank stepped up gas funding across two plays – Strike Energy in the Perth Basin, and, Empire Energy up north in the Beetaloo.
Elsewhere, Australian CPI came in at 2.1% while core inflation jumped to 3.5% for October, but the market shrugged. Inflation fatigue has well and truly turned into a reliable disinterest Down Under.
Meanwhile, Lynas Rare Earths has today said the price of such minerals remains contingent on the state of China’s economy.
Let’s take a look at what companies ended in the green.
Aussie Broadband finished up XXX after announcing it would start buying back shares in Q1 of next year.
While the company noted its buyback depends on market conditions and is not guaranteed, markets clearly liked what they heard from the stock.
Aussie Broadband closed at $3.75.
Elsewhere, Web Travel Group shot up XXX after it revealed an earnings update that wasn’t as bad as feared.
Last week, the company warned it would need to adjust projections but that FY25 guidance wouldn’t be hurt, causing concern – but post-release, it’s looking more like a breath of relief.
WEB Travel closed at $4.80 after gaining 13%.
Looking at the small end of town, biotech stock Island Pharma jumped 30% on Wednesday as its Dengue fever trial results looked promising for FDA regulators.
The company plans to move to Phase 2b testing in January of next year.
Island closed at 21.5 cents.
Turning to companies in the red,
Boss Energy, SILEX Systems and other uranium stocks were in the biggest fallers today as uranium prices dipped overnight below US$80 dollars per pound.
Despite recent geopolitical upside pressure borne from Russia, uranium prices are fetching $77 per pound in the greenback, bringing down Australian uranium companies.
Meanwhile, battery enhancement tech player Novonix was the biggest faller after its shares went live following a placement to raise $44M on Tuesday.
Institutional investors were offered shares at 60 cents each, to their, but the stock survived a plunge to 60 cents.
Novonix last traded at 75c.
Finally, Strike Energy fell even after the company confirmed Macquarie Bank ticked off on credit approval for its first $60M payment to assist Strike connect the South Erregulla asset to a power station.
Strike Energy – currently more illiquid than it used to be – closed at 21cps.
That’s Market Close, I’m Jonathon Davidson, stay safe and we’ll see you tomorrow.