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Lunch Wrap: ASX grinds up on back of miners; tariff-obsessed Trump turns to grog
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- ASX gets some welcome relief… can it last into weekend?
- Miners have come to the rescue after iron ore prices ticked up
- Wall Street, however, hammered again on more tariff chatter from “The Donald”
The ASX is bouncing back with a 0.44% gain by Friday lunchtime (AEDT), driven by a rally in the mining sector.
Miners rebounded after iron ore prices jumped to above US$102 per tonne overnight, driving up the big players like BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Fortescue (ASX:FMG).
Gold miners also saw a big lift as gold prices surged to a new record, coming close to the US$3000 mark.
Macquarie is tipping that gold could hit US$3500 sometime this year as Trump’s tariffs and weak inflation spook markets.
Meanwhile overnight, Wall Street was hammered again, closing at its lowest point since September. The S&P 500 has now fallen over 10% from its February peak, officially entering correction territory.
“Most corrections take about two months to play out,” said John Kolovos at Macro Risk Advisors.
He warned that while US stocks appear oversold, “we aren’t there yet in terms of time, as it took us about two weeks to get to these levels.”
And Trump has just upped the ante, threatening a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne, and spirits if the EU goes ahead with its 50% tax on American whiskey.
The latest move is set to escalate the trade war.
“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote.
“This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”
Back to the ASX, miners shone, but banks and consumer discretionary stocks weighed on the exchange again.
In the large caps space, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) has trimmed its half-year loss to $15.2 million, down from $31.3 million last year. Revenue hit $100.4 million, with over 100,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate sold.
The miner kicked off production at its Kathleen Valley mine in July last year, however, due to low lithium prices, Liontown has revised its production forecast to 2.3 million tonnes per year from FY25. Shares were up 3%.
And, Myer (ASX:MYR) has added a bunch of new key roles, including Kathy Karabatsas as its new CFO, and Megan Collins as Chief People Officer. The revamp comes after Myer’s merger with Apparel Brands. Shares were up 2%.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for March 14 [intraday]:
| Security | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1TT | Thrive Tribe Tech | 0.002 | 100% | 1,777,522 | $2,031,723 |
| SFG | Seafarms Group Ltd | 0.002 | 100% | 879,454 | $4,836,599 |
| H2G | Greenhy2 Limited | 0.005 | 67% | 2,500,000 | $1,794,553 |
| TX3 | Trinex Minerals Ltd | 0.0015 | 50% | 622,579 | $1,878,652 |
| RLT | Renergen Limited | 0.61 | 36% | 68,680 | $13,646,689 |
| WOA | Wide Open Agricultur | 0.034 | 31% | 14,319,854 | $13,875,852 |
| SRZ | Stellar Resources | 0.018 | 29% | 21,189,751 | $29,116,508 |
| CTO | Citigold Corp Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 3,340,114 | $12,000,000 |
| ERA | Energy Resources | 0.0025 | 25% | 3,682,883 | $810,792,482 |
| LNR | Lanthanein Resources | 0.0025 | 25% | 2,310,254 | $4,887,272 |
| VML | Vital Metals Limited | 0.0025 | 25% | 260,000 | $11,790,134 |
| RAC | Race Oncology Ltd | 1.28 | 24% | 328,083 | $178,933,514 |
| MLX | Metals X Limited | 0.6625 | 22% | 26,570,413 | $483,083,388 |
| INF | Infinity Lithium | 0.024 | 20% | 236,909 | $9,251,842 |
| JAV | Javelin Minerals Ltd | 0.003 | 20% | 1,100,000 | $15,115,373 |
| SRI | Sipa Resources Ltd | 0.012 | 20% | 355,725 | $4,163,983 |
| COB | Cobalt Blue Ltd | 0.065 | 18% | 818,131 | $24,171,032 |
| VMC | Venus Metals Cor Ltd | 0.13 | 18% | 586,791 | $21,574,155 |
| VR1 | Vection Technologies | 0.026 | 18% | 2,937,672 | $33,492,583 |
| PGO | Pacgold | 0.072 | 18% | 270,181 | $8,018,715 |
| TMB | Tambourahmetals | 0.033 | 18% | 1,464,862 | $3,292,521 |
Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) has turned heads in the ASX biotech sector today after the company was given ethics approval for a phase I trial of RC220 alone and in combination with doxorubicin in adult solid tumour patients. The trial will be the first time patients have received the drug RC220 bisantrene.
Renergen Limited (ASX:RLT), a producer of liquid helium and liquefied natural gas is up today on the back of what the company says is a “long-awaited event of filling a helium container with liquid”, which has now taken place. In other words, RLT has now begun its commercial liquid helium sales.
“The quality of both our LNG and liquid helium now exceeds minimum design specifications,” emphasised the company, adding: “We remain committed to increasing production and developing the Virginia Gas Project to its
full potential.”
Vital Metals (ASX:VML), an advanced-stage exploration/development rare earths company, is up today after announcing this morning that it has entered a 12-month convertible loan agreement for $1 million and has formed a Canadian Strategic REE Consortium with industry expertise.
The company is currently completing a scoping study for its Tardiff deposit in Canada, examining the potential size and scalability of rare earths and niobium recovery from the deposit.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for March 14 [intraday]:
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASP | Aspermont Limited | 0.003 | -40% | 2,223,688 | $12,350,058 |
| MRD | Mount Ridley Mines | 0.002 | -33% | 400,000 | $2,335,467 |
| GT1 | Greentechnology | 0.039 | -33% | 3,076,101 | $22,547,622 |
| 88E | 88 Energy Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 3,340,692 | $57,867,624 |
| BP8 | Bph Global Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | 6,192,496 | $2,433,233 |
| NRZ | Neurizer Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 12,648,128 | $6,716,008 |
| TMK | TMK Energy Limited | 0.003 | -25% | 38,016,731 | $37,454,660 |
| RB6 | Rubixresources | 0.087 | -21% | 50,000 | $6,759,500 |
| AAU | Antilles Gold Ltd | 0.004 | -20% | 1,342,563 | $10,601,880 |
| ALR | Altairminerals | 0.002 | -20% | 2,500 | $10,741,860 |
| CRR | Critical Resources | 0.004 | -20% | 300,000 | $12,321,106 |
| KGD | Kula Gold Limited | 0.004 | -20% | 4,865 | $4,606,268 |
| GUM | Gumtree Australia | 0.11 | -19% | 22,914 | $43,331,298 |
| GES | Genesis Resources | 0.009 | -18% | 2,945 | $8,611,254 |
| PLN | Pioneer Lithium | 0.12 | -17% | 23,391 | $5,555,194 |
| AMS | Atomos | 0.005 | -17% | 19,235 | $7,290,111 |
| ECT | Env Clean Tech Ltd. | 0.0025 | -17% | 116,684 | $10,940,431 |
| CKA | Cokal Ltd | 0.043 | -16% | 1,588,300 | $55,026,398 |
| SPQ | Superior Resources | 0.006 | -14% | 531,485 | $15,189,047 |
| CBL | Control Bionics | 0.037 | -14% | 214,830 | $12,668,277 |
| TNY | Tinybeans Group Ltd | 0.062 | -14% | 23,906 | $10,649,552 |
| NWC | New World Resources | 0.019 | -14% | 9,816,731 | $77,908,198 |
| SCP | Scalare Partners | 0.165 | -13% | 21,011 | $6,627,732 |
| ARV | Artemis Resources | 0.007 | -13% | 460,000 | $20,228,234 |
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Explorer Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) has appointed Jeremy Read as non-executive director to its board. Read is described as a “seasoned minerals resource industry executive”, having worked in Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Africa, North America and India.
Commodities Read has worked with include precious and base metals, particularly in nickel sulphides, copper and gold. He previously spent 11 years working for BHP and today serves as the chairman of Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL).
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Latitude 66 and Race Oncology are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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