ASX uranium stocks have reacted to another risk event stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, amid unconfirmed reports a nuclear power plant is on fire after Russian shelling.
The plant is situated in Zaporizhzhia, a city in south-eastern Ukraine, and is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Reports emerged this morning (Australian time) that the local mayor said firefighters were unable to put out a blaze at the plant because Russian forces kept firing at it.
The commentary was distributed via the NEXTA Channel, a news outlet headquartered in Belarus.
The market selloff then appeared to accelerate following this tweet from Ukraine foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Shortly afterwards, other reports emerged that firefighters had now got access to an administrative building at the complex.
ASX uranium stocks
While the actual realities on the ground in a war zone can be hard to ascertain, there was a major move in ASX uranium stocks.
The sector got hammered across the board:
Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.
Code Company Price % Market Cap OKR Okapi Resources 0.21 -25.0% $32,784,968 EL8 Elevate Uranium Ltd 0.49 -22.8% $165,426,485 DYL Deep Yellow Limited 0.74 -21.3% $363,815,828 PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 0.6825 -20.6% $2,303,889,249 LOT Lotus Resources Ltd 0.25 -19.4% $302,567,977 GTR Gti Resources 0.018 -18.2% $24,833,187 BMN Bannerman Energy Ltd 0.205 -18.0% $308,625,298 PEN Peninsula Energy Ltd 0.1775 -17.4% $214,418,681 VAL Valor Resources Ltd 0.01 -16.7% $43,853,006 AGE Alligator Energy 0.061 -16.4% $234,882,277 TOE Toro Energy Limited 0.016 -15.8% $74,049,501 BOE Boss Energy Ltd 2.28 -15.6% $770,798,211 92E 92Energy 0.495 -13.2% $33,983,314 DEV Devex Resources Ltd 0.365 -3.9% $119,389,908 GLA Gladiator Resources 0.026 -3.7% $13,801,587 RDT Red Dirt Metals Ltd 0.52 -2.8% $136,508,227 BKY Berkeley Energia Ltd 0.24 -2.0% $109,220,195 DLC Delecta Limited 0.011 0.0% $13,253,996 VMY Vimy Resources Ltd 0.225 0.0% $237,919,798 LAM Laramide Res Ltd 0.635 0.0% $772,847 CXU Cauldron Energy Ltd 0.019 0.0% $9,334,579 NXG Nexgenenergycanada 7.5 1.9% $75,296,738
For commentary on the market reaction, Stockhead spoke with IG markets analyst Kyle Rodda.
“There’s two pressing things here. For the markets, this attach shows the Russians’ willingness to mess with nuclear – essentially play with fire, with the fear it suggests a slippery slope where nuclear weapons could be employed,” Rodda said.
“And for uranium stocks, if this plant does explode or gets major damage, it simultaneously leads to an immediate drop in demand for uranium.”
The Zaporizhzhia plant has 6 VVER-1000 pressurized light water nuclear reactors, each generating 950 MWe, for a total power output of 5,700 MWe.
It generates nearly half of Ukraine’s electricity derived from nuclear power, and more than a fifth of total electricity generated in Ukraine.
A catastrophe at Zaporizhzhia “could result in a Fukushima scale backlash against nuclear power that could see policymakers completely abandon it as a source of alternative energy, and investors refuse give such enterprises capital”, Rodda said.
However, he added a contrarian take for investors assessing how to protect their portfolios through the conflict.
“It could also be that nuclear insecurity – especially if Putin starts leveraging nuclear weapons against Europe – might drive the public towards great investment in nuclear, as a national defence imperative,” he said.
“For now though, the market clearly sees this as an example of the dangers of nuclear energy.”
In line with the broader flight out of risk assets, the five-day winning streak for the ASX microcap Emerging Companies index will come to a sudden halt today.
Shortly after midday, it was almost 3% lower.
Brent oil prices have made another sharp move higher, while in currency markets money has flowed into the two global safe havens — USD and Japanese yen.
The Aussie dollar has dipped slightly against the greenback but a short time ago was still trading slightly above US73c.
By 12:30pm EST, the ASX had climbed slightly off its morning lows. US stock futures also took a sharp turn for the worse following the Zaporizhzhia reports.