ASX Large Caps: ASX extends rally, commodities take a breather

Local shares were up just over 1% today, following the rally in global equity markets overnight.

Wall Street and UK stock markets surged strongly after Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was open to compromise on some of Russia’s demands to end the war.

“I have cooled down regarding this question a long time ago after we understood that NATO is not prepared to accept Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

Oil prices plunged by more than 10% overnight after the UAE said it will call on fellow OPEC members to increase their output faster.

The benchmark Brent crude, which traded at US$140 a barrel just two days ago, is now trading at US$114.75.

Gold price has also cooled down, trading at US$1,976 an ounce, after spiking to US$2050 an ounce yesterday.

On the ASX, the Energy and Mining sectors have lost steam for the second consecutive day – down by around 2% each.

Meanwhile, Tech, Discretionary, Healthcare, Financials have all gained by more than 2% today.

Investors’ eyes will be on on the key US inflation figure to be released later today (US time). The last reading was a record 7.5% year-on- year.

BIG CAP WINNERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	0.855	11%	55,326,594.00	$2,062,784,559.99
GQG	GQG Partners	1.24	8%	23,264,644.00	$3,395,726,249.10
SQ2	Block	151.6	7%	269,227.00	$6,870,356,539.20
FLT	Flight Centre Travel	18.82	6%	3,658,881.00	$3,534,970,297.20
CXL	Calix Limited	6.78	6%	387,596.00	$1,036,456,561.44
WEB	Webjet Limited	5.61	5%	3,872,773.00	$2,024,312,237.08
QAN	Qantas Airways	4.91	5%	17,923,696.00	$8,788,968,292.68
BRN	Brainchip Ltd	1.11	5%	22,244,296.00	$1,808,652,061.92
CTD	Corp Travel Limited	22.2	5%	206,308.00	$2,993,830,057.12
JHX	James Hardie Indust	44.57	5%	1,087,334.00	$18,922,810,771.06
PMV	Premier Investments	27.52	5%	158,626.00	$4,173,567,195.00
PNI	Pinnacle Investment	9.98	5%	547,993.00	$1,901,090,325.07
APE	Eagers Automotive	12.7	5%	459,520.00	$3,116,598,575.78
CSR	CSR Limited	5.82	5%	1,525,877.00	$2,698,728,234.56

Paladin (ASX:PDN) rose 12% as spot uranium prices touched US$60/lb for the first time in around a decade.

BNPL stocks rallied today after a surge in Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) of 7.50% on the back of risk-on sentiment.

Other players like Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) and Sezzle (ASX:SZL) also rose around 5%, with the latter announcing big staff cuts of 20% in North America that it said will lead to $10m in cost saving.

Bank stocks are also surging as investors piled back on, with the big four banks rallying by around 3% today.

BIG CAP LOSERS

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
NIC	Nickel Mines Limited	1.225	-13%	$101,446,905	$3,685,527,540
SNZ	Summerset Grp Hldgs	10.46	-8%	$301	$2,626,656,797
KAR	Karoon Energy Ltd	2.11	-8%	$6,620,845	$1,275,381,931
RIO	Rio Tinto Limited	110.52	-8%	$2,265,742	$44,501,399,734
GMA	Genworth Mortgage	2.8	-6%	$2,532,392	$1,230,361,594
BPT	Beach Energy Limited	1.6	-6%	$24,380,983	$3,866,860,547
ASM	Ausstratmaterials	8.28	-5%	$423,093	$1,212,307,192
WPL	Woodside Petroleum	31.69	-5%	$5,980,885	$32,191,776,623
MIN	Mineral Resources.	44.99	-4%	$1,227,614	$8,892,956,436
GOLD	ETFS GOLD	251.65	-4%	$57,318	$1,484,108,621
NCM	Newcrest Mining	27.01	-4%	$6,527,562	$25,105,731,848
BGL	Bellevue Gold Ltd	0.97	-4%	$4,364,714	$1,041,688,858
CEN	Contact Energy Ltd	7.49	-4%	$4,950	$1,915,340,205
CRN	Coronado Global Res	1.955	-4%	$5,775,887	$3,403,201,072
FMG	Fortescue Metals Grp	18.17	-4%	$8,120,517	$57,976,909,406
S32	South32 Limited	4.76	-3%	$21,255,676	$22,910,889,917
AAC	Australian Agricult.	1.645	-3%	$292,886	$1,024,703,470

After losing 22% yesterday, Nickel Mines (ASX:NIC) lost another 13% today on concerns that its shareholder Tsingshan could be facing a US$8bn loss from the nickel short squeeze.

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is down 2% after saying that it will sever all business links with Russia, as reported in the SMH.