The armed forces could be called upon to enforce Sydney’s strict lockdown, and we might see troops on the streets as early as Monday.

On the bourse, the benchmark ASX 200 has closed 0.40% lower on Friday, but was flat for the week.

The mining sector was the clear winner in a week where earning results headlined proceedings, up by 3.4%.

In today’s trading, investors turned their faces away from buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) stocks with Sezzle (ASX:SZL) dropping 11% despite reporting an 119% increase in its quarterly merchant sales to US$411m.

Other BNPL stocks like Afterpay (ASX:APT) and Zip Co (ASX:Z1p) also fell by 4-5%, as sentiment against the BNPL sector soured recently amid rising competition brought about by giants Paypal and Apple.

Last week, Zip also crashed 7% on the day it reported a record Q4 earnings.

TODAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

Recruitment company Ignite Ltd (ASX:IGN) was amongst the winners today, rising by 35% despite reporting a revenue decline of 10% for the full year due to COVID-19 challenges. The company is however upbeat about FY22 prospects, when the economy emerges from the pandemic.

Bowen Coking Coal (ASX:BCB) rose by nearly 10%, after announcing it has been awarded Preferred Bidder Status in the sale process for the Bluff PCI Mine by Australian mining contractor, MACA Ltd (ASX:MLD).

The Bluff PCI Mine assets include a granted mining lease and approved Environmental Authority to mine up to 1.8Mtpa of high quality Ultra Low Volatile PCI coal.

Jayex Tech (ASX:JTL) is up 7% today after reporting cash receipts of $2.475 million for the quarter, compared to $1.265 million in the last quarter.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Change Financial (ASX:CCA)

The fintech company reported record revenue for the June quarter of US$2.6m, as the company successfully secured a number of new licence deals.

Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB)

The infant food producer had a solid Q4, with revenues of $12.8m, up by 8% on prior quarter. However, FY21 gross revenue fell by 24% to $46.8m, which it says reflected the prolonged Covid-19 disruptions.

 

TRADING HALTS

Monday

Epsilon Healthcare (ASX:EPN) – new director appointments
VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) – project update
Torian Resources (ASX:TNR) – acquisition
Canyon Resources (ASX:CAY) – capital raising
Alderan Resources (ASX:AL8) – capital raising
Linius Technologies (ASX:LNU) – capital raising
Anteris Technologies (ASX:AVR) – capital raising
Poseidon Nickel (ASX:POS) – capital raising
Pearl Gold (ASX:PG1) – capital raising
Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE) – capital raising
Cipherpoint (ASX:CPT) – capital raising
Sensera (ASX:SE1) – capital raising

 

Tuesday

Red Hill Iron (ASX:RHI) – proposed disposal
Fiji Kava (ASX:FIJ) – capital raising
IODM (ASX:IOD) – revenue signing
Cradle Resources (ASX:CXX) – shareholder meeting outcome
Vulcan (ASX:VUL) – off take term sheet
Frontier Resources (ASX:FNT) – capital raising
IPB Petroleum (ASX:IPB) – capital raising
Strike Resources (ASX:SRK) – regulatory approval
Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:PAR) – response from FDA
West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) – capital raising