Closing Bell: ASX hits record high as Bitcoin closes in on a personal best
Bitcoin is closing in on an all time high. Pic via Getty Images
- ASX starts Monday on a strong note reaching record high
- Lithium stocks rocket as Chinese CATL mine shuts
- BPH soars on valuable metals found in seaweed species
The Aussie bourse made a strong start to the week with the S&P/ASX 200 finishing Monday up 37.70 points, or 0.43%, to 8,844.80 today, hitting a fresh 100-day high.
Crypto has also joined the party with Bitcoin closing in on its all-time peak. It’s currently purring around US$122,300, looking ready to rip higher and smash its record.
Meanwhile, the Aussie dollar has dipped slightly in the past 24 hours and is currently trading around 65 US cents.
Wall Street’s record-breaking run on Friday helped lift the ASX higher. The real fireworks on the ASX today were in materials, which led the bourse higher, closing up 1.58%.
Lithium stocks rallied after reports a major Chinese mine was closing down. EV battery giant CATL has reportedly let a key mining permit lapse, which is a blow to one of of the country’s biggest lithium sources.
The news triggered fears of a supply squeeze, sending traders into a frenzy.
Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumped ~18% and Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) leapt ~17% as the market surged on lithium-fuelled momentum.
Eight of 11 sectors were in the green today with staples the second strongest sector up 0.95% followed by healthcare rising 0.55%. Discretionary fell 1.62%, along with tech and utilities down 0.73% and 0.19% respectively.
RBA tipped to lower rates by 25 bps
Tomorrow all eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is widely tipped to announce its third cut in interest rates, after holding steady in July despite easing inflation.
A new Finder survey shows 91% of economists expect the RBA to cut the cash rate by 25 basis points from 3.85% to 3.60% after its two-day meeting starting today.
ASX leaders
Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Last | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BP8 | BPH Global Ltd | 0.002 | 100% | 2,248,187 | $1,050,985 |
| ETM | Energy Transition | 0.1 | 82% | 60,668,491 | $85,327,477 |
| PAB | Patrys Limited | 0.0015 | 50% | 1,126,226 | $2,365,810 |
| EPM | Eclipse Metals | 0.03 | 36% | 55,078,742 | $65,981,352 |
| PLC | Premier1 Lithium | 0.008 | 33% | 16,259,214 | $2,208,363 |
| SRJ | SRJ Technologies | 0.008 | 33% | 1,745,027 | $6,242,115 |
| UNT | Unith Ltd | 0.008 | 33% | 5,806,636 | $8,872,713 |
| DAL | Dalaroo Metals | 0.032 | 28% | 4,559,724 | $6,491,298 |
| AGY | Argosy Minerals Ltd | 0.037 | 28% | 22,791,731 | $44,541,707 |
| MQR | Marquee Resource Ltd | 0.014 | 27% | 5,956,893 | $6,453,911 |
| ELT | Elementos Limited | 0.175 | 25% | 703,203 | $41,313,176 |
| BYH | Bryah Resources Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 5,675,146 | $4,114,130 |
| MRD | Mount Ridley Mines | 0.0025 | 25% | 795,584 | $1,556,978 |
| LKY | Locksley Resources | 0.23 | 24% | 15,675,809 | $33,916,666 |
| I88 | Infini Resources Ltd | 0.235 | 24% | 968,960 | $9,950,304 |
| TM1 | Terra Metals Limited | 0.085 | 23% | 8,442,443 | $32,974,891 |
| DGR | DGR Global Ltd | 0.0135 | 23% | 763,485 | $11,480,656 |
| BCN | Beacon Minerals | 1.585 | 22% | 400,584 | $136,831,237 |
| MPK | Many Peaks Minerals | 0.88 | 22% | 1,213,271 | $88,748,959 |
| OKJ | Oakajee Corp Ltd | 0.05 | 22% | 131,566 | $3,749,287 |
| EDE | Eden Inv Ltd | 0.046 | 21% | 142,185 | $7,808,824 |
| ADY | Admiralty Resources. | 0.006 | 20% | 295,279 | $13,147,397 |
| EMT | Emetals Limited | 0.006 | 20% | 905,782 | $4,250,000 |
| PKO | Peako Limited | 0.003 | 20% | 33,730,499 | $3,719,355 |
| SPQ | Superior Resources | 0.006 | 20% | 4,794,499 | $11,854,914 |
In the news…
Who would have guessed seaweed could hold precious and rare earth minerals? BPH Global (ASX:BP8) is up 100% today after announcing Temasek Innovation Holdings (TPIH) in collaboration with its Singapore-based R&D consultant Gaia Mariculture will undertake additional assays on naturally growing Sesuvium portulacastrum seaweed harvested from polluted waters in Johor, Malaysia.
The supplementary testing will examine the mineral content of gold, silver, and rare earths in the harvested biomass, and will be conducted at no cost to BPH Global. The work builds on recent findings that identified Sesuvium portulacastrum as a hyper-accumulator of valuable metals.
Dalaroo Metals (ASX:DAL) is up 28% today after completed a ~$900,000 placement of 35.1 million fully paid ordinary shares at 2.5 cents per share, along with issuing 11.7 million free attaching options, exercisable at 3.6 cents and expiring in August 2029.
Proceeds of the raise will be used to progress the next phase of Dalaroo’s exploration strategy in Cote d’Ivoire and its Greenland and Western Australian projects, for working capital purposes and to identify and assess new complementary projects.
ASX laggards
Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Last | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNT | Syntara Limited | 0.028 | -51% | 75,888,847 | $92,775,383 |
| AOK | Australian Oil | 0.002 | -33% | 1,171,757 | $3,113,349 |
| MTL | Mantle Minerals Ltd | 0.001 | -33% | 2,400,655 | $9,671,169 |
| TKL | Traka Resources | 0.002 | -33% | 15,027,413 | $7,266,417 |
| TMX | Terrain Minerals | 0.002 | -33% | 12,543,127 | $7,595,443 |
| BUX | Buxton Resources Ltd | 0.029 | -31% | 9,746,094 | $14,431,448 |
| AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | 2,500 | $5,538,785 |
| HPC | Thehydration | 0.01 | -23% | 417,422 | $5,600,412 |
| OLH | Oldfields Holdings | 0.02 | -23% | 914,781 | $5,539,537 |
| AYM | Australia United Min | 0.002 | -20% | 500 | $4,606,444 |
| MSI | Multistack Internat. | 0.004 | -20% | 89,033 | $681,520 |
| OEL | Otto Energy Limited | 0.004 | -20% | 86,472 | $23,975,049 |
| RLG | Roolife Group Ltd | 0.0065 | -19% | 11,291,967 | $12,742,250 |
| PGY | Pilot Energy Ltd | 0.009 | -18% | 9,026,279 | $23,745,260 |
| NVQ | Noviqtech Limited | 0.035 | -17% | 2,982,947 | $10,564,535 |
| HTG | Harvest Tech Grp Ltd | 0.015 | -17% | 2,192,760 | $16,362,330 |
| EM2 | Eagle Mountain | 0.005 | -17% | 35,184 | $6,810,224 |
| RAN | Range International | 0.0025 | -17% | 142,000 | $2,817,871 |
| SHP | South Harz Potash | 0.0025 | -17% | 200,000 | $4,415,170 |
| VAR | Variscan Mines Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 7,622,922 | $4,697,146 |
| CLA | Celsius Resource Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 5,694,358 | $21,948,419 |
| TON | Triton Min Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 300,000 | $10,978,721 |
| TSL | Titanium Sands Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 460,166 | $16,413,230 |
| VKA | Viking Mines Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 1,021,785 | $9,407,641 |
| PER | Percheron | 0.0095 | -14% | 3,267,727 | $11,961,814 |
In the news…
Shares in cancer drug developer Syntara (ASX:SNT) lost almost half their value, after what investors viewed as unfavourable advice from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Syntara announced that the FDA had provided guidance that a Phase II trial with a control arm be undertaken to acquire additional safety and efficacy data, focussing on improvements in symptoms and spleen volume reductions in order to optimise the design and efficiency of a subsequent pivotal Phase III trial.
“Over the coming period we will use the FDA guidance to refine our clinical development plan for amsulostat and continue discussions with partners based on the FDA recommended path forward,” Syntara CEO Gary Phillips said in an announcement.
In case you missed it
Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) has enhanced plans to mine its Feysville gold project near Kalgoorlie after geotechnical drilling returned high-grade assays of up to 100.7g/t within the optimised pit shell and outside the pre-feasibility study areas.
Terra Metals (ASX:TM1) has defined a maiden 148Mt resource at Dante holding 14.8% titanium dioxide and significant levels of vanadium, copper, gold and platinum – confirming the West Australian project as a globally significant discovery with plenty of upside.
Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) has begun first underground blasting and will soon move to high-grade gold production with the start of underground mining at its super high-grade Reward gold mine in the East Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW.
Geopacific Resources (ASX:GPR) trenching work has confirmed more growth potential at its 1.67Moz Woodlark Project with high-grade gold at the Little MacKenzie prospect going up to 16.6g/t as a 30,000m drill campaign gets underway in Papua New Guinea.
A Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) resource upgrade at its North Stanmore flagship in WA has revealed ultra-high, heavy rare earth ratio zones of up to 83% with ratios of the prized heavy elements comparing favourably to other projects.
Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX) has wrapped up drilling at its Centurion IOCG target in WA and will now turn towards a fully funded maiden copper-gold campaign at a Madman project showing geological similarities to the 5.9Moz Havieron discovery.
A cornerstone GTI Energy (ASX:GTR) investor has completed its due diligence and confirmed its participation in a $4.5 million placement to advance GTR’s Lo Herma in-situ recovery uranium project in Wyoming.
Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) has delivered a maiden tungsten resource at its Western Queen project it says has highlighted the site’s exceptional potential to become a significant West Australian critical minerals and gold operation.
The ongoing diamond drilling at Many Peaks Minerals’ (ASX:MPK) Ferké gold project in Côte d’Ivoire has delivered hits to the tune of 75m at 6.11g/t gold and a new record share price to match.
Pure Hydrogen Corporation (ASX:PH2) has signed a sale agreement with Scott Lovatt Transport for supply of two Taurus Prime Movers and locked in more than $3 million in new orders from commercial transport operators for its leading fleet of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Arika Resources (ASX:ARI) 1300 Smiles (ASX:ONT) first results from a 10,000m drill campaign into the Yundamindra project have shown off thick, high-grade gold at the F1 Fault and pointed towards big upside surrounded by hungry mills southeast of Leonora.
Trading halts
Benz Mining Corp (ASX:BNZ) – cap raise
Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) – pending drill results
Jade Gas Holdings (ASX:JGH) – results announcement pending
Paterson Resources (ASX:PSL) – cap raise
Tuas (ASX:TUA) – acquisition and cap raise
Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM) – cap raise
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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