Speaking on national television, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said NSW COVID-19 cases could reach more than 1,000 cases a day if people failed to comply with public health orders.

To the stock market, the ASX 200 finished around 0.49% lower to close at 7,582, with the microcap Emerging Companies index (XEC) also falling by 1.15%.

It was the first fall for the ASX 200 since August 3rd, after reaching record highs last week.

“Keep in mind that this follows a 1.2 per cent lift for our market last week, record highs hit over eight of the past 11 days and keeps the market on track to lift for an 11th consecutive month,” Commsec analyst Steven Daghlian said.

The Energy sector was the worst performer, falling by more than 3%, while Consumer Staples rose by 1%, helped by the rise in A2 Milk (ASX:A2M).

A2 Milk was a clear standout today, rising by 13% after a report in the Australian said that Swiss giant Nestle could make a takeover play on A2M.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

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Code Company Price % Volume
AOA Ausmon Resorces 0.009 50 66277666
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.0015 50 38819483
DXB Dimerix Ltd 0.335 43 26086675
GBE Globe Metals &Mining 0.14 40 760867
NXM Nexus Minerals Ltd 0.12 36 12431644
AUZ Australian Mines Ltd 0.027 35 271426703
CAD Caeneus Minerals 0.018 29 153027520
VIC Victory Mines Ltd 0.0025 25 592304
DTI DTI Group Ltd 0.022 22 772171
VPR Volt Power Group 0.003 20 417584
AIB Aurora Glb Trust 0.13 18 3400
AWV Anova Metals Ltd 0.026 18 3302765
AGR Aguia Res Ltd 0.047 18 34006
AUC Ausgold Limited 0.041 17 7431670
DDT DataDot Technology 0.007 17 630070
MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.0035 17 38289927
88E 88 Energy Ltd 0.051 16 237743524
KGD Kula Gold Limited 0.066 16 8317401
SPN Sparc Tech Ltd 0.54 15 787902
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.008 14 216881
PXS Pharmaxis Ltd 0.12 14 3385427
PPK PPK Group Limited 16.63 14 801707
SRH Saferoads Holdings 0.245 13.95 5000
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Biotech company, Dimerix (ASX:DXB), rocketed by 42% after announcing a $20 million capital raising to fund the company’s Phase 3 FSGS clinical program. FSGS, or Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, is a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering units causing kidney damage and failure.

Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) rose by 30% after signing a long-term offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution (LGES) for mixed nickel-cobalt hydroxide sourced from AUZ’s 100%-owned, Sconi Project in North Queensland. LGES is a subsidiary of LG Chem, the world’s largest producer of advanced batteries for the electric vehicle industry.

Mobilicom (ASX:MOB) rose by 6% after launching a world-first AI-based 360-degrees cybersecurity suite for drones and robots. The technology is able to prevent and respond to multiple drone/robotics cyber-attacks in real-time without requiring intervention by an operator.

Delta Drone (ASX:DLT) rose by 4% following its proposal to acquire 60% of Arvista, a Perth-based provider of aerial and terrestrial surveying services for the mining, engineering and construction industries. The acquisition is expected to accelerate DLT’s growth in the Australian market.

TODAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

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Code Company Price % Volume
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.002 -33.3333 8391949
PCL Pancontinental Oil 0.0015 -25 1480661
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.0015 -25 28088168
BCB Bowen Coal Limited 0.105 -25 3095801
MPH Mediland Pharm 0.056 -22 67475
EFE Eastern Iron 0.015 -17 33219883
DCX Discovex Res Ltd 0.005 -17 3250000
NWE Norwest Energy NL 0.01 -17 11513285
GRV Greenvale Mining Ltd 0.495 -15 5405575
MAN Mandrake Res Ltd 0.066 -14 30620980
MAG Magmatic Resrce Ltd 0.12 -14 921728
MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.006 -14 60000
GEV Global Ene Ven Ltd 0.08 -14 2792170
ASN Anson Resources Ltd 0.099 -14 13093046
TAS Tasman Resources Ltd 0.032 -14 2354310
AFW Applyflow Limited 0.007 -13 4421332
PKO Peako Limited 0.028 -13 1124668
VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.028 -13 9880714
XST Xstate Resources 0.0035 -13 4432214
MNS Magnis Energy Tech 0.355 -12.3457 30727402
LRS Latin Resources Ltd 0.044 -12 26475166
CR9 Corellares 0.052 -11.8644 11437265
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ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Silica sand explorer, Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC), says that white sand only samples from the recent 86 aircore hole drill program at Beharra has now been delivered to IHC Robbins in Brisbane for representative bulk metallurgical testing program. The company said the testwork is aimed at proving that a low iron silica sand product can be produced at scale from the Beharra ore body.

Cazaly Resources (ASX:CAZ) says that encouraging gold mineralisation has been intersected in Woomera Mining (ASX:WML)’s Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling programme at its Mt Venn JV Project. This includes : 10mat0.70g/tAu fromm197m in MVRC040,including 1m at 5.0g/tAu from 203m. Cazaly owns 20% of the JV.

Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR) has appointed an experienced Spanish drilling contractor Sondeos y Perforaciones Industriales de Bierzo, for a follow-up underground drilling program at the San Jose Mine. Three rigs will be deployed in the program, a clear positive from the perspective of both time utilisation and flexibility.

Corella Resources’ (ASX:CR9) drilling has returned broad, shallow, high purity bright white kaolin intercepts that demonstrate the quality, scale and huge potential of the Tampu project. Drilling returned an average yield of 57% with the company moving to start resource estimation work immediately.

Plexure (ASX:PX1) is merging with transaction platform provider TASK. The $120 million deal will see TASK’s boss become Plexure’s CEO and comes 9 months after Plexure listed and 2 weeks after former CEO Craig Herbison abruptly resigned.

Woodside (ASX:WPL) confirmed to shareholders it was in talks with BHP (ASX:BHP) about a potential merger involving BHP’s petroleum business. The company said these talks were ongoing and it would update the market as required while BHP said Woodside was just one option being considered at its end. 

Vulcan (ASX:VUL) told shareholders its spin off of Kuniko was on track with the company receiving conditional approval to list on the ASX. Vulcan expects Kuniko’s listing to occur next Monday, August 23, and will retain 25.85% of the entity. 

TRADING HALTS

The following companies are in trading halts and are expected out in the next two trading days:

Tuesday

Nuheara (ASX:NUH) – clinical trial commencement
African Energy Resources (ASX:AFR) – capital raising
Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) – exploration results
Firefinch (ASX:FFX) – joint venture update
Dropsuite (ASX:DSE) – capital raising

Wednesday

Canterbury Resources (ASX:CBY) – joint venture and capital raising
IOUpay (ASX:IOU) – s.1322 relief 
Pantoro (ASX:PNR) – strategic investment
4DS Memory (ASX:4DS) – technical update
GTI Resources (ASX:GTR) – capital raising and acquisition
Tombola Gold (ASX:TBA) – capital raising
Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) – drilling update
Tali Digital (ASX:TD1) – capital raising
Steadfast Group (ASX:SDF) – capital raising
Locality Planning Energy (ASX:LPE) – capital raising
Maximus Resources (ASX:MXR) – capital raising
Mitchell Services (ASX:MSV) – capital raising

 

 

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Variscan Mines is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

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