ASX gained on Wall Street boost and local earnings results. Pic via Getty Images
Closing Bell: ASX climbs as Tech takes charge; CBA, AGL gain on earnings, LiveHire doubles
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- ASX gained on Wall Street boost and local earnings results
- CBA, AGL Energy, and Evolution Mining posted strong earnings
- ASX’s shares dropped after ASIC lawsuit
The ASX extended its gains on a busy day of earnings reports, up by 0.3%,
The gains were also fuelled by a boost from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq jumped 2.4% after inflation data bolstered hopes the Fed Reserve will lower interest rates next month.
US producer prices (PPI) rose less than anticipated in July, suggesting inflation is continuing to ease, according to the much anticipated data released last night.
Traders are now awaiting the US July consumer price index (CPI) data tonight (US time) and retail sales data on Thursday for clues about the Fed Reserve’s next policy move.
On the ASX today, Tech took charge as investors piled back following the Nasdaq’s rally.
On the earnings front, the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) jumped almost 1% after reporting a $9.5 billion profit for the full year, a 6% decline from last year’s record. Net interest margin for the bank however fell 0.08% to to 1.99% due to competitive pressures and inflation but stabilised in the second half of the year.
AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) lifted 2.5% after reporting that its underlying profit has surged by 189% to $812 million for the full year. This figure slightly beat AGL’s revised guidance in May.
AGL also declared a final dividend of $0.35 per share, which is a 52% increase, bringing the total annual dividend to $0.61 per share, up 97%.
Orora (ASX:ORA), the producer of glass bottles and cans, rose 6% following a 9.5% increase in full year revenue to $4.29 billion. Despite this positive news, the company also shared a downcast guidance, saying that major clients in the spirits, wine, and beer sectors are reducing their orders.
Gold and copper miner, Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN), soared 7% after reporting record earnings and strong cash flow,
Thanks to high commodity prices, EVN improved its profit margin and generated $367.3 million in cash. The company also raised its dividend to $0.05 per share, more than double last year’s amount.
Looking ahead to FY25, Evolution expects to produce between 710,000 and 780,000 ounces of gold and between 70,000 and 80,000 tonnes of copper, and said it was optimistic about maintaining strong cash flow.
Meanwhile, market operator ASX Ltd (ASX:ASX) dropped over 3% today after revealing that corporate watchdog, ASIC, has accused the ASX of misleading the public about the progress of its major system upgrade.
ASIC’s lawsuit claims that the ASX’s optimistic statements about the project’s progress were not backed by facts.
The ASX had promised investors that the overhaul of its old clearing and settlement system, known as CHESS, was on track, but it later became clear that the project was failing.
What else happened today?
Over the pond, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand unexpectedly cut its cash rate by 0.25% to 5.25%, the first reduction since 2020, pushing the New Zealand dollar lower.
“We considered a range of moves, consensus was for 25 basis points. We had no pressure from lawmakers on rates,” said RBNZ governor Adrian Orr .
Across Asia, stock markets were mainly up today, fuelled by hopes tonight’s US CPI report will convince the Fed Reserve to ease rates in September.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index – which tracks stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region, including countries like Japan, China, and Australia – rose for the fourth consecutive session.
Japan’s Nikkei fell slightly after Japanese PM, Fumio Kishida, said he won’t run for re-election as leader of his party next month, which means Japan will get a new prime minister.
ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS
Today’s best performing small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LVH | Livehire Limited | 0.046 | 92% | 30,390,652 | $8,870,350 |
| ADD | Adavale Resource Ltd | 0.003 | 50% | 2,494,636 | $2,422,864 |
| MTB | Mount Burgess Mining | 0.002 | 50% | 750,000 | $1,298,147 |
| SFG | Seafarms Group Ltd | 0.003 | 50% | 156,281 | $9,673,198 |
| EXL | Elixinol Wellness | 0.004 | 33% | 1,988,561 | $3,963,547 |
| TIG | Tigers Realm Coal | 0.004 | 33% | 500,000 | $39,200,107 |
| PV1 | Provaris Energy Ltd | 0.022 | 29% | 396,065 | $10,691,492 |
| AVE | Avecho Biotech Ltd | 0.003 | 25% | 16,000 | $6,338,594 |
| CRB | Carbine Resources | 0.005 | 25% | 1,208,000 | $2,206,951 |
| GW1 | Greenwing Resources | 0.045 | 25% | 211,111 | $7,090,253 |
| HE8 | Helios Energy Ltd | 0.010 | 25% | 9,664,976 | $20,832,396 |
| ION | Iondrive Limited | 0.010 | 25% | 10,182,245 | $5,668,060 |
| STM | Sunstone Metals Ltd | 0.010 | 25% | 3,098,939 | $30,815,229 |
| JGH | Jade Gas Holdings | 0.047 | 24% | 491,820 | $59,919,698 |
| AQC | Auspaccoal Ltd | 0.145 | 21% | 3,656,679 | $64,056,111 |
| ECG | Ecargo Hldg | 0.006 | 20% | 189,942 | $3,076,250 |
| LML | Lincoln Minerals | 0.006 | 20% | 16,166 | $10,281,298 |
| BM8 | Battery Age Minerals | 0.125 | 19% | 95,000 | $9,767,535 |
| MI6 | Minerals260Limited | 0.125 | 19% | 164,122 | $24,570,000 |
| APX | Appen Limited | 0.900 | 18% | 13,754,309 | $169,481,249 |
| NOX | Noxopharm Limited | 0.098 | 17% | 4,330,084 | $24,547,988 |
| GMN | Gold Mountain Ltd | 0.004 | 17% | 125,000 | $9,533,230 |
| LNR | Lanthanein Resources | 0.004 | 17% | 128,000 | $7,330,908 |
LiveHire (ASX:LVH) was leading the way on Monday after news broke that MA Moelis Australia, on behalf of Humanforce Holdings, has launched an on-market takeover of Livehire, offering $0.045 per share – a substantial premium to the stock’s overnight close of $0.024 per share. The offer to purchase shares at that price will remain open until September 30.
Noxopharm (ASX:NOX) jumped more than 40% on Monday morning after releasing promising new data about its CRO-67 drug, which targets pancreatic cancer. The drug is designed to overcome the challenge posed by the dense barrier of cells surrounding pancreatic tumours, which typically protects the tumours from both anti-cancer drugs and the body’s immune system. CRO-67 works by targeting and destroying both the cancerous cells and these protective barrier cells.
Gold Mountain (ASX:GMN) was up on news of high-grade results from channel samples from the Irajuba tenements in its Down Under Project area, with peak values of 1045 ppm TREO apparent in a strongly weathered profile, alongside magnet REE of up to 33.6% of TREO, and heavy REE of up to 19.1% of TREO. The company says that augur drilling is next on the list of activities at the site, to drill below the strongly leached zone into saprolite to test the boundaries of the find.
Forbidden Foods (ASX:FFF) was also climbing on news of an acquisition, this time via a share purchase agreement (SPA) that has been executed to purchase leading plant-based non-dairy business Oat Milk Goodness, under which Forbidden Foods will acquire 100% of the shares in OMG for a consideration of $3.42m via the issue of 285m ordinary shares priced at 1.2c per share, subject to conditions precedent and shareholder approval.
Evion Group (ASX:EVG) was up on news that the Madagascan government has confirmed a new Mining Code which includes granting of development and production licences for compliant graphite projects, and has set out a programme for the issuing of new mining permits.
Titomic (ASX:TTT) was up on news that it has received further purchase orders from a global U.S. aerospace and defence prime totalling $577,000, and says that the orders represent “a significant milestone in the Company’s relationship with this global US aerospace and defence prime reflecting a qualification period spanning several years with this order taking cumulative orders on this project to over $1.0 million”.
Nimy Resources (ASX:NIM) has hit into a 10m interval of volcanic massive sulphide, or VMS, from its first RC drill hole at its Mons VMS project. Mons is in the Forrestania nickel belt west of Kalgoorlie where IGO’s (ASX:IGO) nickel operations are located. It raised just over $1m for exploration that’s currently running its finger over a previous 5m @ 0.73% nickel, 0.53% copper, 0.06 % cobalt and 0.55g/t PGE’s from 102m anomaly it discovered at the Masson prospect – and has a diamond drill ready to spin to drill beneath the two RC pre-collars it just completed.
One of Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM)’s substantial holders, Farjoy, has increased its stake in the junior from 5.08% to 7.49%, injecting almost $1.5m – as a maiden RC drilling campaign continues at the Spur project. It put in $232,000 as part of a $5m placement that WTM is using to accelerate drilling at its Spur gold-copper project – and has just thrown in another $1.2m-odd purchase for 4 million shares. It’s been a good month for the stock price so far, with results from another six holes from the current drill program consistently hitting shallow, high-grade gold mineralisation – up to 9.33g/t Au with 0.38% Cu.
Spur is in the prolific Lachlan Ford Belt in NSW, just 5km from where Newmont’s giant >50Moz gold and 9.5Mt copper Cadia Valley operation sits.
After discovering high-grade manganese in Timor Leste back in April, Estrella Resources (ASX:ESR) has taken samples from all over the tenure and initial pXRF analysis (a preliminary determination of grades from rock chips in the field) showed up to 64% manganese (Mn).
And while further lab analysis confirmed up to 56.9% Mn at the Lalena prospect, that’s still a pretty high number. More field samples then showed up to 64% Mn near Lalena at the new Sica prospect, spurring the explorer’s decision to now increase the landholding, as it’s identified supergene manganese mineralisation that extends between the two prospects.
It’s applied for additional exploration licenses to the west that will increase its tenure up to 698.1km2 and plans to boost its field team to expedite exploration efforts.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Today’s worst performing small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSR | Lodestar Minerals | 0.001 | -50% | 82,714 | $5,201,560 |
| PUR | Pursuit Minerals | 0.002 | -33% | 1,356,308 | $10,906,200 |
| RIL | Redivium Limited | 0.002 | -33% | 36,319 | $8,192,564 |
| RMX | Red Mount Min Ltd | 0.001 | -33% | 1,000,000 | $5,135,366 |
| GES | Genesis Resources | 0.005 | -29% | 117,647 | $5,479,889 |
| OAR | OAR Resources Ltd | 0.002 | -25% | 1,500,000 | $6,444,200 |
| SHO | Sportshero Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | 10,125 | $2,471,331 |
| SI6 | SI6 Metals Limited | 0.002 | -25% | 305,000 | $4,737,719 |
| TM1 | Terra Metals Limited | 0.043 | -23% | 4,795,235 | $20,405,207 |
| CPN | Caspin Resources | 0.050 | -21% | 8,785 | $5,938,737 |
| TTI | Traffic Technologies | 0.004 | -20% | 25,697 | $4,864,426 |
| AI1 | Adisyn Ltd | 0.025 | -17% | 55,472 | $6,933,960 |
| FGL | Frugl Group Limited | 0.030 | -17% | 200,135 | $3,776,710 |
| BNL | Blue Star Helium Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 11,989,899 | $11,669,312 |
| BP8 | Bph Global Ltd | 0.003 | -17% | 3,759 | $1,189,924 |
| JRV | Jervois Global Ltd | 0.010 | -17% | 10,338,981 | $32,433,165 |
| ILT | Iltani Resources Lim | 0.155 | -16% | 12,000 | $6,291,943 |
| RNE | Renu Energy Ltd | 0.003 | -14% | 13,730,884 | $2,541,469 |
| AQN | Aquirianlimited | 0.160 | -14% | 1,988 | $14,924,685 |
| PVT | Pivotal Metals Ltd | 0.013 | -13% | 359,849 | $10,561,774 |
| OPL | Opyl Limited | 0.020 | -13% | 260,159 | $3,926,437 |
| AUQ | Alara Resources Ltd | 0.034 | -13% | 1,375,979 | $28,005,414 |
| CCM | Cadoux Limited | 0.055 | -13% | 100,000 | $23,367,808 |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sunshine Metals’ (ASX:SHN) latest drilling results from Liontown West further validate the gold, copper, zinc and lead potential at the prospect, which is part of the company’s broader Ravenswood Consolidated project.
Pure Hydrogen (ASX:PH2) has successfully registered Australia’s first hydrogen fuel cell prime mover in Queensland with handover to PepsiCo expected within the next few weeks.
Terra Metals (ASX:TM1) has more than doubled the initial discovery strike at Dante Reefs with Reef 1 south assays confirming an 11.2km extension.
Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) has added the Pearl Copper asset in Arizona, USA to its project portfolio after entering into a joint venture acquisition with Outcrop Silver and Gold Corporation.
Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) has lodged a mining licence application to the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety over its North Stanmore project in WA.
BlinkLab’s (ASX:BB1) app boasts potential to become a valuable clinical tool for diagnosing autism and/or ADHD, significantly reducing the time it takes for families and patients to receive a diagnosis.
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) is set to kick off a 3,300m 51-hole reverse circulation drilling program at the Kempfield project in September. The program has been designed to confirm the newly discovered Kempfield NW and Sugarloaf Hills prospects as well as delineate mineralised extensions outside the current resource area.
LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP) has entered a co-development agreement with Aptar Pharma to commercialise nasal spray ED treatment Spontan in the USA as well as other key markets around the world with a long-term alliance for ongoing innovation for healthcare solutions. The agreement will encompass joint development and expertise, combining LTR Pharma’s pharmaceutical development capabilities with Aptar Pharma’s expertise in nasal spray technology – including Aptar’s VP7 model nasal spray components.
TRADING HALTS
Site Group International (ASX:SIT) – pending an announcement of the outcome of the High Court appeal against the decision of the Full Federal Court that its subsidiary, Productivity Partners Pty Ltd, engaged in conduct in breach of the Australian Consumer Law in proceedings commenced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Argent Minerals, LTR Pharma, Sunshine Metals, Pure Hydrogen, Terra Metals, Golden Mile Resources, Victory Metals and BlinkLab are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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