ASX Market Close: Down below 8,100 we go as Brent Crude at 4Y low

Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close, I’m Jonathon Davidson.

The ASX200 receded further just below the 8,100pts mark as the XJO continues to digest ongoing tariff implications. The US has flagged a 30 day pause for some Canadian and Mexican automakers, which could positively influence Wall Street overnight. Other analysts are wondering if Trump wants to deliberately devalue the USD – which could be good news for the Aussie.

Looking at sectors, Materials and Telecomms scraped through into the green with both flirting with  point 2 per cent gains; Energy once again led laggards down -2.9%. 

Turning to companies in the green,

Relatively obscure biometrics monitoring device player Spacetalk jumped over +18% to 29cps after revealing it’s licencing Neuroscience Research Australia’s AI tech into its smartwatches for seniors.

Elsewhere, Myer jumped just over 5% to 79cps as a prominent stockbroker published a bullish research note on the retail giant suggesting it could see a significant stock price recovery. 

Finally, West African Resources bumped up more than 11.5% to $2.10 per share as it delivered a $246M profit for 2024, crucially, above market expectations.

Now let’s turn to the reds.

Vulcan Energy Resources fell nearly -12% to $3.83 per share on no news after a recent run-up in the share price. Just under two months ago, shares were above $6 a pop.

Woodside staged another loss as it traded ex-dividend, falling nearly -5% to $22.93 per share. Making matters worse, Brent Crude hit a four year low today, just beating a record in September under US$70 per barrel.

Finally, recent biotech darling Opthea fell -5% to 71cps on no news but conforming to a trend hitting the sector in recent history as markets turn choppy, apparently taking Mesoblast’s lead, which also continued to fall on Thursday.

That’s HotCopper’s Market Close, I’m Jonathon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you on Friday.