Top 10 at 11: ASX starts week on the up as Starpharma shines on Big Pharma deal

Morning, and welcome to Stockhead’s Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading.

With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10.15am in the east, once trading kicks off in earnest.

In brief, this is what the market has been up to this morning.

ASX starts week in positive territory

The ASX has started the trading week higher following a stronger session on Wall Street on Friday. The ASX 200 opened up in morning trade gaining 0.57% before dropping back to 0.48% to 8815 points by 11.30am.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% on Friday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 0.7% and the Dow Jones gained 0.4%.

Brent crude is trading near US$67 a barrel, with US WTI at about US$63 a barrel. Gold is up trading ~US$3,706 an ounce, while iron ore on the Singapore exchange rose to US$106.60 a tonne.

Bitcoin is up 0.03% to US$115,360 and the Aussie dollar is buying around US66 cents.

Eight of the 11 sectors were in the green in morning trade with materials leading the gainers up 2.48% and energy the laggards, down 0.84%.

SMALL CAP WINNERS

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) is up 81% in morning trade after signing a collaboration and licensing deal with Genentech, a member of the Big Pharma Roche Group, to develop potential cancer therapies that leverage Starpharma’s proprietary DEP drug delivery technology.

Under the deal Starpharma will receive an upfront payment of US$5.5 million (~A$8.3m), and is eligible for development, commercial and net sales milestones up to US$564m (~A$855m), as well as tiered royalties on global net sales.

RooLife Group (ASX:RLG) is up 60% today after announcing that its subsidiary, RLG Global Trading (Zhuhai) Co., Ltd., has signed a two-year Supply and Procurement Agreement with Zhongshan Runlian Commercial Co., Ltd., covering RLG-branded coffee beans, beverages, food, and coffee machines for the Chinese market, with a minimum order commitment of RMB 300 million (~A$64m).

The deal leverages Zhongshan Runlian’s distribution network to expand online and offline sales through livestream marketing, influencer campaigns, subscriptions, and bundled promotions. It build upon RLG’s recent Eternal Asia partnership of A$100m targeted annual sales, expaning access to established sale and distribution networks across China.

Yandal Resources (ASX:YRL) has surged 59% in morning trade after reporting significant intercepts at the Arrakis gold discovery from two drill holes within the Caladan target area. Results from hole one 25IWBRC00410 included 54m at 1.2g/t gold from 108m, featuring 24m at 2.1g/t from 138m and 8m at 4.7g/t from 154m to end-of-hole, while a second hole (25IWBRC0041) returned 6m at 1.1g/t from 180m.

These intercepts are the first from a 1,374m RC drilling program targeting the 2.2km-long Arrakis structure. Assays from five additional holes are expected in the coming weeks, and diamond drilling is planned to extend hole 25IWBRC0041 and test the trend along strike. The company said the results support the potential of Arrakis as a significant new gold discovery.

Aussie AI player makes a move: Decidr raises $20 million

AI-play Decidr Ai Industries’ (ASX:DAI) share price is also on the rise this morning (+18%).

The company has received binding commitments for its $20m placement through the issue of 22.2 million new shares to predominantly new and existing institutional investors.

The shares will be issued at 90 cents each, reflecting a slight discount to the last close and a premium to recent VWAPs.  Proceeds from the placement will be used to fund working capital, accelerate existing deployments, expand the customer base, acquire new partners, and further develop DecidrOS, supporting growth across domestic and international markets.

Morgans Corporate acted as sole lead manager and bookrunner to the placement, which represents roughly 11% of existing shares, resulting in about 10% post-placement dilution.

DAI also provided updates on several key partnerships across its HR, education, and hospitality verticals, demonstrating momentum as Decidr expands its Agentic Operating System (DecidrOS) through strategic collaborations.

Notable collaborations include Now Book It,  AIM (Australian Institute of Management), eBev, The Growth Faculty, and ELMO Software.

SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Roolife Group and Decidr AI Industries are Stockhead advertisers, the companies did not sponsor this article.

This story does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decision.