Last Orders: ASX falls for the third day in a row and below 7,000

The ASX fell nearly 1 per cent today and below 7,000 index points as this week’s sell off continued.

The ASX 200 closed at 6,983 points, which was 0.88 per cent lower than yesterday while the ASX Emerging Companies Index dropped 1.18 per cent to 2,026.

Health was the only sector with a hefty gain, finishing 1 per cent up while energy rose a modest 0.08 per cent. Tech stocks did the worst losing 4.72 per cent while resources lost 1.72 per cent.

Today’s IPO Australasian Gold (ASX:A8G) closed the day 15 per cent down from its IPO price.

Australia’s markets appear to be following the US sell off, which is driven by fears of rising inflation and has also seen heavyweight tech stocks bear the biggest losses.

While Australian inflation is well below the RBA’s desired targets it appears the RBA may be prepared to hike interest rates perhaps as soon as next year.

The assumption by the government that borders will be closed until mid-2022 has heavily hit travel stocks particularly airlines and travel agents.

The top winners on the ASX today were microcap oil and gas stock Fremont Petroleum (ASX:FPL) with an operations update and gold-copper high flier Lefroy Exploration (ASX:LEX), which gave an exploration update.

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Firefinch (ASX:FFX) has announced the commencement of open pit mining at the Morila Gold Mine in Mali, West Africa. Approximately 100,000 tonnes of Morila Pit 5 ore have already been hauled to RoM stockpiles, as the company work towards getting the Morila Super Pit operational.

Managing director Michael Anderson declared that it was exciting to be up and running and his company remained very focused on bringing the Morila Super Pit back into operation.

Sticking with gold and TechGen Metals (ASX:TG1) revealed assay results from its maiden RC drilling program at its El Donna gold project. The company completed 11 RC drill holes and the best results included 8m at 1.3g/t gold from 56m and 8m at 1.0g/t from 84m.

Diversified South American focused explorer Latin Resources (ASX:LRS) has invested another CA$540,000 to maintain its shareholding in TSX-listed explorer Westminister Resources. The deal raised a total of CA$2.75 million and will help Westminister buy a copper project in Chile.

Hotel owner Redcape (ASX:RDC) upped its financial guidance following strong trading in the most recent quarter. It had estimated a quarterly distribution of 1.83 cents per share but has lifted that to 2.67c – representing an annualised yield for FY21 of 8.3 per cent.

5G Networks (ASX:5GN) has formally launched its wholesale offerings, starting in Melbourne. The company also told shareholders it expects to grow revenue by $10 million per annum.

Radiology stock Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) signed another deal in the USA to roll out its Visage 7 device. This time it inked a contract with the University of Vermont Health Network, a contract lasting 8 years and worth $14 million.