ASX Large Caps: ASX 200 dips, but up 6% in March, all-time record in sight

Mining stocks rally
Australia job vacancies balloon to 6.9%
Lithium stocks keep surging

A rally in mining stocks wasn’t enough to push the ASX to an eighth consecutive day of gains.

The benchmark index closed 0.2% lower today, and for March it’s up by almost 6 % and inching towards all-time highs.

The Mining sector, which makes up one fifth of the benchmark index, rallied by 1.5% as giant miners like BHP (ASX:BHP) and Rio (ASX:RIO) climbed.

This comes as iron ore and other commodities continue to rise amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The war is raging on despite Russia’s promise on Tuesday to de-escalate activities in major cities including Kyiv.

The Australian Border Force has today slapped tariffs on Russian and Belarusian goods – of up to 35%, – in response to Russia’s invasion.

Meanwhile, Australia is in dire need of workers as job vacancies jumped to 6.9% in the three months to February. Vacancies are at 86% higher than what they were prior to Covid, raising more concerns around inflation.

Tech stocks erased most of yesterday’s gains after falling by almost 2% today.

BIG CAP WINNERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
INR	Ioneer Ltd	0.69	20.00%	21,591,412	$1,202,065,329
NVX	Novonix Limited	6.15	8.85%	3,641,639	$2,745,130,860
CXO	Core Lithium	1.365	7.91%	36,921,481	$2,169,553,705
CIA	Champion Iron Ltd	7.8	5.83%	1,665,105	$3,807,429,526
SYR	Syrah Resources	1.6225	5.02%	3,578,801	$1,033,808,201
TPG	TPG Telecom Limited	6.06	4.48%	1,300,410	$10,784,181,680
DBI	Dalrymple Bay	2.135	4.15%	366,338	$1,016,311,417
FMG	Fortescue Metals Grp	20.62	4.14%	9,936,423	$60,963,505,376
MIN	Mineral Resources.	52.56	4.06%	877,608	$9,538,824,158
FFX	Firefinch Ltd	1.035	4.02%	10,612,335	$1,172,245,519
ILU	Iluka Resources	11.325	3.80%	2,187,541	$4,625,101,851
VUL	Vulcan Energy	10.12	3.79%	490,808	$1,283,539,628
PPH	Pushpay Holdings Ltd	1.0525	3.69%	521,565	$1,157,950,224
TAH	TABCORP Holdings	5.38	3.26%	5,149,746	$11,596,270,573
ZIM	Zimplats Holding Ltd	28	3.09%	6,499	$2,923,438,547
LKE	Lake Resources	2	2.83%	13,662,671	$2,476,911,376

The raging hot lithium sector keep surging after media reports the US government could be investing more in Australia’s critical mineral projects.

ionner (ASX:INR) was one of the best performers today, up by 17%, on no specific news.

Core Lithium (ASX:CXO), another lithium play, jumped 8% after announcing positive drilling update from the Finniss Lithium Project near Darwin.

BIG CAP LOSERS

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AIZ	Air New Zealand	1.195	-7%	8,414,384	$1,437,240,611
HVN	Harvey Norman	5.35	-6%	3,316,171	$7,114,697,994
REH	Reece Limited	19.07	-5%	312,991	$12,926,143,462
XRO	Xero Ltd	102.69	-5%	509,672	$16,048,479,042
ABB	Aussie Broadband	5.33	-4%	781,012	$1,325,937,261
SDR	Siteminder	4.51	-4%	166,604	$1,280,148,360
SQ2	Block	186.46	-4%	180,811	$9,456,958,194
Z1P	Zip Co Ltd.	1.475	-4%	13,247,467	$1,027,000,659
PMV	Premier Investments	27.605	-4%	180,707	$4,559,920,272
JHX	James Hardie Indust	40.58	-4%	2,382,629	$18,749,190,079
IFT	Infratil Limited	7.49	-4%	26,104	$5,634,604,894
TLX	Telix Pharmaceutical	4.14	-3%	812,484	$1,339,532,766
NAN	Nanosonics Limited	3.93	-3%	487,425	$1,228,461,051

Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ) dropped 6% after coming out of a trading halt. The airline is is launching a NZ$2.2 billion recapitalisation package to help position the airline for recovery. It includes NZ$1.2 billion in pro rata renounceable rights offer to shareholder.