Market Close: Even off 9,000pts levels, the XJO is still up +10% YTD. The Rudd-Trump meeting could send it higher

Greetings and welcome to Market Close for Wednesday 15th of October, I’m Jon Davidson. In life, it can be worth zooming out sometimes and reflecting on how far you’ve come. The same is true for the ASX200 – despite what was a fairly boring September, the benchmark for the bourse down under is up +10% over the last ten months.

Helping things along in October has been another fire lit under the bonnet of critical minerals miners, especially rare earths in recent days, as China has once again flexed its own political muscle by holding onto more rare earths itself – it has most of the world’s supply.

According to some analyses, China has been waiting for its own domestic helium capacity before it pulled this off. In an unusual flip of the coin, America has long controlled most of the world’s helium. Some analysts suggest China now has its own, and so now it doesn’t need to worry about what America might do.

Or, this could all be forgotten in a few weeks. But with Kevin Rudd running around the traps tapping ASX-listed companies ahead of a meeting with Trump, it feels to many like we’re on the cusp of something big here. And nothing would be bigger than Canberra offering floor price guarantees for key critical metals.

That would get one big problem out the way when it comes to mining rare earths here at home, and then turning them into metals: cost. Environmental laws and other regulations remain constrictive, but we could just establish special industrial zones.

At least, that’s how it works in my head. Let’s turn to companies in the green.

Nova Minerals firmly won top gainer status today on the back of US-Australia mineral deal hopes only one day after confirming they too were tapped by Rudd ahead of his Trump meeting.

Larvotto meanwhile bounced back hard to reclaim its position as the most-watched antimony player on the market, perhaps underscoring antimony really is the new lithium.

Telix pharmaceuticals meanwhile helped lift the entire healthcare sector after reporting A$316M in revenue overnight, as well as upgrading its forward guidance. Always a good thing.

As for the reds,

Profit takers came for Australian Strategic Materials only one day after a meteoric rise; while the shares were down -15% in the final hour, one month returns are still up +216%.

29Metals meanwhile sunk after investors weren’t too sure about its quarterly; the copper player must be watching peers enviously as copper stocks right now are having a net good run too.

Finally, the two big defence darlings continue to slide for a third day, now. Electro Optic declined another -10% on Wednesday to not much more than $6 a share; Droneshield five. This is despite neither company being particularly exposed to the Middle East, but a similar miracle in Europe could definitely make things worse.

That’s Market Close for Wednesday, I’m Jon Davidson, have a great night and we’ll see you tomorrow.