Market Update: ASX just afloat with IT on charge and comms flashing red

The ASX200 is up 0.2 of a per cent mid-session in line with future’s predictions.

IT and materials are up around half a per cent, with utilities and financials not far off – but communications dipped -2.6% and healthcare -0.1%.

Communications is down around 2.5% as TPG (ASX:TPG) and Telstra (ASX:TLS) take a toll on the sector.

In company news

Car retailer group Eagers Automotive (ASX:APE) is down 15% on some of the notes it shared in its annual general meeting.

The company expects to achieve underlying profit before tax for the first half of 2024 to be approximately 85% of the underlying profit before tax achieved in the first half of 2023.  

Management remains disciplined on focusing its operations and is optimistic regarding the outlook for the remainder of 2024 despite macro headwinds

APE has been trading at $10.56.

Webjet (ASX:WEB) is up nearly 9% on its financial results for the 12 months ending on March 31^st 2024.

The company reported a net income of $72.7 million vs $14.5 million the previous year.

Revenue was also up 29% to $471.5 million.

WEB has been trading at $9.19.

Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD) has announced a maiden mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Mia rare earths prospect in Western Australia, with the inferred resource sitting at 168 million tonnes at 1,201 part per million (ppm) of total rare earths (TREO).

Mia’s inner zone – which is an open-ended, 8.5-kilometre-long corridor of clay-hosted rare earth mineralisation includes a higher-grade zone of 85 million tonnes at 1,558ppm of TREO.

MRD has been trading 0.1 cents.

Haranaga Resources (ASX:HAR) has achieved up to 90% uranium extraction through metallurgical testing of ore from its Saraya deposit in Senegal.

This was a follow up on previous testing which had revealed that ore from Saraya – was suitable for leaching extraction. The company can now move forward with confirmation its extraction rates are consistent with other contemporary uranium development projects and operations.

HAR has been trading at 12 cents.