Market Close: We’re probably not going to see a contrarian September rally – but this way, 2025 might see a Santa Rally

Good Afternoon and welcome to HotCopper’s Market Close for Thursday 18th of September, I’m Jon Davidson. We got the US Fed rate cut as expected overnight but it wasn’t a boon for the ASX, which instead went back to the 8,700s.

Clearly the September rule remains true down under, but at least this way we might actually have a Santa Rally this year – something absent in the silly season last year.

Looking at sectors, energy by far led the laggards intraday after the ADNOC Santos merger proved dead in the water, IT scraped through to make top gainer status in the final hour of trades. 

Turning to companies in the green, 

Banking software provider Stakk, formerly Dough, shot up 300% after it announced a deal with meme stock trading app Robinhood despite not mentioning monetary value for its 2Y partnership; Stakk will provide its API to Robinhood which in turn is making a pivot into banking services. 

Elsewhere, troubled uranium stock Peninsula Energy shot back up to 40 cents after it produced its first uranium yellowcake from its project in the US this week; that follows the stock being forcibly suspended by the ASX earlier this year. 

And, still looking at uranium, SILEX Systems climbed sharply for a second day after successfully enriching uranium in the US using its laser tech on Wednesday; Washington has moved to boost strategic reserves. 

So what about the reds?

Spare a thought for Santos shareholders who today saw the proposed merger with UAE based ADNOC fall through. While many expected the deal to flounder – especially considering the foreign review board – the deal didn’t even get close, with Santos tanking the energy sector and seemingly dragging down Woodside with it. 

Elsewhere, Western Gold fell on Thursday as it told the market its latest gold drilling results were incomplete, given they were delivered as “raw data,” a table including grade information on page 16 of the company’s announcement perhaps suggested initial results mightn’t reflect bonanza finds. 

Finally, Sunrise Energy Metals tanked 20% back down towards $4 a share after closing at $5 just yesterday; earlier this week the company received a show of early support from the US Import Export Bank. There was no news on Thursday, so profit takers could have just scraped the top, but it’s a notable decline. 

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