TMH Market Open: Low metals prices force Panoramic Resources to halt operations at Savannah nickel project

The Australian share market is tipped to rebound today with futures predicting a per cent rise.

In breaking company news: operations at ASX-listed nickel producer Panoramic Resources’ (ASX:PAN) Savannah nickel project in the Kimberley have been stopped by administrators. Low nickel prices are blamed for the decision which will see about 140 staff made redundant and share trade suspended.

We’ll have more news on local companies later in the bulletin.

But first, improving inflation in the US saw the Nasdaq rebound more than two per cent, the S&P 500 gained 1.2 per cent and the Dow Jones gained .4 per cent.

The Nasdaq was helped by mega-caps including Tesla, which rose two per cent, and chip maker Nvidia, which gained nearly 6 per cent after the introduction of three new desktop graphics chips that allow users to harness the power of AI directly on their personal computers.

Boeing stock went through some turbulence as expected, with the company dropping nearly seven per cent on the widely publicised news of a panel blowing out of an Alaska Airlines flight and consequently, many aircraft being grounded.

Back home and aside from the shock news around the Panoramic Resources’ nickel operations ending, other stocks to watch today include Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) which has begun trading on the OTCQX market; and, Medallion Metals (ASX:MM8) which has increased its ore reserve at the Ravensthorpe project to 610,000 ounces of gold and 24,000 tonnes of copper.

Yesterday’s market debutant, lithium play Kali Metals (ASX:KM1) will also be of interest after it surged as much as 99 per cent during its first session.

It has investments from Perth billionaires Chris Ellison from Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) and Tim Roberts from Multiplex.

And later this morning, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release its November retail sales data – which will contain the Black Friday sales results. It’ll also provide building approvals data.

Iron ore has shed 2.4 per cent to $141.50, crude oil has slipped almost four per cent to just above $71. Gold is down a per cent to $2026 with natural gas rising almost three per cent to just below $3.