Closing Bell: ASX flattens out as tech gains catch up with banking losses

• ASX flattens out, loses just 0.08pc
• Tech, uranium stocks led gains
• Real estate, banking stocks main source of weakness

Not quite enough juice

The tech rally couldn’t quite get the ASX 200 off the ground today, ending down just 0.08%.

Losses in major banking stocks and the real estate sector weighed a little too heavy for our plucky tech sector to lift, despite some help from uranium miners.

By the end of trade, six sectors were up and five down, but only info tech and energy made any real headway.

We’ll look at the energy movers in a moment, but NextDC (ASX:NXT) was the headliner for the tech sector, surging 17% on momentum from some solid full year reports.

QORIA (ASX:QOR) added 7% and Brainchip Holdings (ASX:BRN) climbed 5%

Most of the rest of the big moves were in the smaller caps, which enjoyed some pretty dramatic price lifts percentage-wise.

Sensen (ASX:SNS) added 53% (check out our ASX Leaders below for more on them), DOTZ Nano (ASX:DTZ) 48% and Senetas Corporation (ASX:SEN) 11%.

The ongoing fight between the Trump Administration and US Fed governor Lisa Cook was enough to spook the rate-sensitive real estate sector.

Pexa (ASX:PXA) shed 8.5%, the biggest downward pressure within the sector, and Lifestyle Communities (ASX:LIC) fell 4.2%.

Over in the finance sector, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) fell 1.76%, Westpac (ASX:WBC) 1% and National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) 0.35%.

That said, QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE) and Medibank Private (ASX:MPL) both climbed 1.5%.

Major uranium miner Cameco cuts production

Uranium stocks surged in trade today, heating up as supply challenges rear their head.

Cameco, a TSX-listed uranium miner and one of the largest producers of the yellow stuff in the world, just cut its production forecast.

It is slashing 2025 production guidance by a full 3 million pounds of uranium, indicating the 14-15 million-pound range is more likely.

That might not sound like much, but the uranium market operates on long-term contracts and the supply-demand paradigm is very tight.

The Global X Uranium ETF – of which Cameco makes up more than 23% – shot up more than 3% in response.

Our yellowcake boys wasted no time in following suit.

Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) was spared the fallout of a $34.2 million loss on its full year books, climbing 7.7% by end of trade.

Paladin (ASX:PDN) gained 7.8%, Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) 6.1% and Bannerman (ASX:BMN) 4.4%.

Moving down the pecking order, Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU) jumped 14.3% and Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT) 8.1% while Peninsula (ASX:PEN) added just 1.45%.

ASX Leaders

Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps):

In the news…

Asra Minerals (ASX:ASR) has officially launched its share consolidation, combining its securities on a 1 for 10 basis. It’s an automatic share price upgrade for the company, as it reduces shares on offer 10-fold while raising the value of each share by the same factor.

Magnum Mining and Exploration (ASX:MGU) is following up on some solid exploration hits with a round of leach testing on high-grade rare earth samples from the Palmares REE project.

MGU has collected rock chip samples up to 1.32% total rare earths with strong magnet REE (Nd and Pr) content.

The met work will give MGU an idea of how costly it will be to recover the rare earths. After that, we’ll need to wait for the drill bit to confirm the scale of the mineralised zone.

McLaren Minerals (ASX:MML) is drilling up more high-grade titanium hits at its namesake McLaren project in WA, striking up to 1m at 24.22% heavy minerals from 13m in a drill hole immediately to the north of the current resource boundary.

It’s a good sign the mineral body is larger than originally thought, with the drill core highlighting continuous, broad mineralisation. It’s also good timing, as MML has a prefeasibility study and a resource update in the pipeline.

Sensen Networks (ASX:SNS) smashed its financial report for the FY25, upping revenue by 26.5%, improving gross margins by 79.1% and reducing operating expenses by 8.4%.

The intelligent traffic management company added 12 fresh smart city customers to its roster last financial year, setting up for FY26 with some strong momentum behind it.

ASX Laggards

Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps):

In Case You Missed It

Medallion Metals (ASX:MM8) has boosted the case further for the development of its Ravensthorpe gold project with a big resource upgrade, laying out the red carpet for a final investment decision in December.

Airtasker (ASX:ART) has recorded a second consecutive year of positive free cash flow while international marketplaces continue to gain momentum.

A global boom in paddling water sports is opening a new opportunity in the US retail sector for those ready to go, maybe even surge, with the flow.

Cosmos Exploration (ASX:C1X) and optioned entity EAU Lithium have acquired a direct lithium extraction pilot plant to test Bolivian brines.

Trading halts

Brazilian Critical Minerals (ASX:BCM) – field trial results
Black Rock Mining (ASX:BKT) – cap raise
Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) – cap raise
Dotz Nano (ASX:DTZ) – ASX price query
Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) – drill assay results
Golden State Mining (ASX:GSM) – cap raise
iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM) – cap raise
Middle Island Resources (ASX:MDI) – cap raise / acquisition
Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) – drone test results
Terrain Minerals (ASX:TMX) – drilling results
VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) – environmental approval

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

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.