Closing Bell: ASX dragged down by delta, energy stocks

The ASX closed in negative territory despite a solid gain in tech stocks.

The ASX 200 closed 0.23% down at 7,474 points although the ASX Emerging Companies Index rose 1.06% to close at 2,226 points.

Despite tech stocks gaining 4.38%, as investors continue to relish the takeover of Afterpay (ASX:APT), it was a negative day across the rest of the ASX with energy leading the laggards, dropping 1.39% and resources losing 0.85%.

The only other sectors in the green was healthcare, up 0.15% and utilities which rose 0.86%.

The delta strain has continued to spook investors, with Wall Street closing flat and many Asian markets slipping, particularly China and Japan.

TODAY’S BIGGEST WINNERS

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

Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during intraday trade.

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
PKD	Parkd Ltd	0.054	46	54294364
SNS	Sensen Networks Ltd	0.16	33	3960456
G88	Golden Mile Res Ltd	0.064	31	5656086
IOU	Ioupay Limited	0.275	28	24775061
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.019	27	12142150
FCT	Firstwave Cloud Tech	0.07	21	3151455
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.018	20	80664096
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.003	20	966334
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.006	20	2900000
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.003	20	822455
GFN	Gefen Int	0.84	17	156646
AFW	Applyflow Limited	0.007	17	27061540
HNR	Hannans Ltd	0.007	17	5331155
VR1	Vection Technologies	0.095	16	8484268
ARR	American Rare Earths	0.097	15	15814539
SRJ	SRJ Technologies	0.3	15	219287
ADX	ADX Energy Ltd	0.008	14	4433517
AIS	Aeris Resources Ltd	0.24	14	31318022
FRX	Flexiroam Limited	0.04	14	3650440
GLN	Galan Lithium Ltd	1.19	14	4375862
ICT	Icollege Limited	0.125	14	561026
STM	Sunstone Metals Ltd	0.025	14	31439133
GAL	Galileo Mining Ltd	0.335	14	1904304

Parkd (ASX:PKD), a $5.4m micro-cap stock that builds car parks, announced it was teaming up with a property developer and the pair would look to develop car parks using Parkd’s technology.

American Rare Earths (ASX:ARR) increased its indicated resource estimate at its La Paz project in the USA by 117% to 35.2 million tonnes.

Golden Mile’s (ASX:G88) climbed off the back of positive results from a helicopter electromagnetic (HEM) survey on the company’s Yarrambee project in WA.

TODAY’S BIGGEST LOSERS

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

Stocks highlighted in yellow fell after making announcements during intraday trade.

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
CLE	Cyclone Metals	0.003	-66	133868575
CLZ	Classic Min Ltd	0.001	-50	34401628
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.001	-50	25832921
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.001	-33	21967500
PCL	Pancontinental Oil	0.0015	-25	254976
ARO	Astro Resources NL	0.004	-20	17035555
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.004	-20	28587519
AQI	Alicanto Min Ltd	0.13	-19	2039119
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.04	-18	58165586
TOU	Tlou Energy Ltd	0.064	-18	1966886
NOR	Norwood Systems Ltd.	0.015	-17	546057
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0025	-17	1583457
CAD	Caeneus Minerals	0.011	-15	15708617
KOR	Korab Resources	0.023	-15	3324645
GES	Genesis Resources	0.012	-14	1750326
SCT	Scout Security Ltd	0.067	-14	90086
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.013	-13	2122681
CVS	Cervantes Corp Ltd	0.007	-13	7492358
TSC	Twenty Seven Co. Ltd	0.0035	-13	12072288
AXI	Axiom Properties	0.07	-13	151531
AFR	African Energy Res	0.021	-13	455030
RCR	Rincon	0.215	-12	181500

Patrys (ASX:PAB) announced delays to upcoming toxicology studies blaming difficulties in procuring certain key components needed for the trial. It blamed COVID-19 related supply chain disruptions and says it now expects the study to begin in the March quarter next year.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Qantas (ASX:QAN) announced it would stand down 2,500 cabin crew in relation to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns. The company said it was reasonable to assume borders would be closed to Sydney for at least another couple of months but once normal travel resumed travel would be “at the top of people’s list[s]”.

The Brisbane Broncos (ASX:BBL) provided a rare public glimpse into the impacts of COVID-19 on individual NRL clubs. It expects a $3.17 million profit in FY21 compared to the $0.02 million in FY20 crediting the return of crowds but it warned the current disruptions may impact FY22.

Still with results and Good Drinks Australia (ASX:GDA) reported FY20 revenues of $51.6 million, up 40% on FY20 and earnings of $10.7 million up 1,683% on FY20. This came off the back of a total sales volume of 17.1 million litres across the group, which was also a healthy gain on FY20 (specifically 39%).

Gold producer Westgold Resources (ASX:WGX) also gave its shareholders a financial outlook. It is tipping gold production over 270,000 ounces at an All-in sustaining Cost (AISC) of between A$1,500 and A$1,700 per ounce.

Leigh Creek Energy (ASX:LCK) updated the market this morning on construction progress of its $2.6B urea project at Leigh Creek. Its engineering partner DL E&C (Daelim) has formally achieved the first milestone in providing all the pre-requisite detailed conditions for Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning (EPCC) on the project.