Good afternoon, and a warm welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close for Thursday, October 2. I’m Isaac McIntyre, covering for Jonathon Davidson as he celebrates his birthday – let’s get into how the ASX trading day’s played out.
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The big story here is, of course, just how much the local bourse has gained: It’s been a green-washed day for the ASX, which is a hefty +1.3% higher.
Much of that has come from several rocketing sectors, including Materials, which has bumped +2.1% on new all-time highs for gold, and Healthcare, which followed Wall Street’s lead through Thursday’s trading.
This rally is mostly thanks to uncertainty in the U.S. around whether a government shutdown is coming. I pointed out in my Market Open coverage this morning that they often lead to stock surges, and now we’re standing here among the start of one right on queue, not six hours later.
Plenty of companies have benefited from it, too; let’s check them out.
In the green
It’s unsurprisingly gold miners and explorers that have led the way today, with Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) piling on +7.6%, while Bellevue (ASX:BGL) gained +3.6%, and Tambourah Metals (ASX:TMB) leapt +57%.
BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) both rallied too, the former in spite of China’s attempts to drop its global prices with blocks and bans.
Elsewhere, CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) has reversed some of its recent woes with a +3.3% bounceback, helped on by its sector’s performance.
And microcap miner Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) is +100% up, per ADVFN.com stat tracking.
In the red
On the other side of the coin, there’s few major companies really down today, considering the wider ASX has been so buoyant, though St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) was one that bucked the materials trend to lose -46.7%.
Murdoch-owned REA Group (ASX:REA) lagged after buying a controlling stake in property imaging company Planitar; News Corp (ASX:NWS) dipped, too.
And, DroneShield (ASX:DRO), which JD and I spoke about at length in yesterday’s HotCopper Wire podcast episode, dumped -15% to close.
That’s Market Close for Thursday, I’m Isaac McIntyre – have a great evening.
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