A good day was had by iron ore miners basking in an eight-year high price of $US150 per tonne ($201/tonne), and gold miners enjoyed a recovering gold price.

Consumer sentiment as measured by Westpac bank’s index has jumped to a 10-year high of 112 points as Australia’s economic recovery stays on track.

Concerns about job security have eased, and looser monetary policy is supporting the housing market, leading to a sunnier economic outlook.

“An easing in restrictions in Melbourne and the policies announced in the federal budget including personal income tax cuts look to have lifted confidence,” said Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts in a report.

Gold’s price is back to $2,500 per ounce in Australian currency, signalling a rebound for the yellow metal which has struggled with COVID-19 vaccine optimism.

The Australian dollar edged higher to 74.3c against the US dollar which has weakened against major currencies.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has presented a new $US915bn economic stimulus package to the US Congress.

The ASX All Ordinaries got closer to 7,000 points, closing Wednesday at 6,965 points – up 43 points on the day.

The index was last at 7,000 points back in February, when it got to as high as 7,230 points before Corona virus upset the apple cart.

The heavy hitters’ ASX200 index tacked on 0.6 per cent to finish the trading day at 6,728.5 points.

 

ASX biggest movers

Among the market’s top winners today is a cannabis company and a mining technology company, both of which gained 100 per cent in Wednesday trade.

Cannabis stock Cann Global (ASX:CGB), doubled up after announcing it had raised $3.75m (before costs) in a share placement to sophisticated investors.

The company said it will use the funds to clear debt, including “outstanding convertible note liabilities”. CGB raised the money at 0.5c per share, but the stock ripped higher to close at 1.2c.

Austpac Resources (ASX:APG) is developing minerals processing technology and completed proof of concept work in November on its Zinc and Iron Recovery Process.

The process aims to recover zinc dust from steel blast furnaces to produce an iron oxide-zinc oxide material. Chinese steelmaker Tangshan Yanshan Iron and Steel Company became a significant company shareholder in April.

Dating services and matchmaking company Love Group (ASX:LVE) made some impressive gains without releasing any news Wednesday.

The company said in its September quarter report that business had rebounded driven by its key markets of Hong Kong and Singapore.

Resources stock Aurumin (ASX:AUN) gained 70 per cent in early morning trade, Wednesday.

The explorer has two main projects with a history of high-grade gold production.

Mt Dimer produced 123,000 ounces of gold at an ore grade of 6.4g/t, while Mt Palmer produced 158,000oz at an average grade of 15.9g/t.

The company has already started exploring the projects and expects to be able to share initial drilling results prior to Christmas.

Toro Energy (ASX:TOE) confirmed that high grade nickel sulphides were hit during October drilling at its Dusty discovery, part of the Yandal gold project.

Announcements

IGO (ASX:IGO) announced it is to acquire a 24.99 per cent indirect interest in the world-class Greenbushes lithium mine and processing plant in WA. The gold miner and battery metals company is also taking a 49 per cent stake in the Kwinana lithium hydroxide plant in WA.

China-based Tianqi Lithium has agreed to sell the stakes to IGO in a deal worth $1.9bn which IGO is to partially fund through an equity raising for $766m, $1.1bn of debt and the rest from its cash reserves. “Both Greenbushes and Kwinana are world-class assets with attractive growth profiles that together provide the platform for building a global lithium business,” IGO managing director and chief executive, Peter Bradford, said. Greenbushes mine supplied ~20 per cent of world lithium supply in 2019.

 

Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) intends to extend its testing program for SARS-COV-2 antiviral drugs underway at Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunology. The clinical stage oncology company has developed personalised medicine to treat cancer. The medical testing program is to determine the antiviral activity of Prescient’s antiviral drugs in SARS-COV-2 infected Vero cells.

It is the first time its medicine has been evaluated for the treatment of COVID-19. Initial findings from first clinical tests were inconclusive, and Prescient and the Doherty Institute have amended the study and extended the tests. Next results are expected from the new tests in early 2021.

 

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) said it has satisfied US Food and Drug Administration criteria for a substantive review of its application for its prostrate cancer treatment. The review will carry on into May 2021 after a mid-cycle review meeting in February next year. Telix chief executive, Dr Christian Behrenbruch, said the company’s kit-based formulation is a game-changer for delivering access to its important technology. The proposed name for Telix’s prostrate cancer treatment is Illuccix.

 

Thursday:

Adslot (ASX:ADS) – capital raising

Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies (ASX:ROO) – capital raising

Lucapa Diamond (ASX:LOM) – exploration update

Toro Energy (ASX:TOE) – exploration update

Holista CollTech (ASX:HCT) – company update

Manuka Holdings (ASX:MKR) – capital raising

Golden Deeps (ASX:GED) – capital raising

Calidus Resources (ASX:CAI) – capital raising

 

Friday: 

LawFinance (ASX:LAW) – capital raising

Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) – capital raising

IGO (ASX:IGO) – acquisition

ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) – capital raising

Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) – capital raising

Cynata Therapeutics (ASX:CYP) – capital raising

Kingston Resources (ASX:KSN) – capital raising

Moho Resources (ASX:MOH) – capital raising

Agrimin (ASX:AMN) – capital raising

Tempus Resources (ASX:TMR) – capital raising

 

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Prescient Therapeutics is a Stockhead advertiser, they did not sponsor this article.