On Stockhead today, 40 billion reasons to look at defence stocks, uranium hits an 11-year ATH, and an expert view on making money playing games.

But first, the day ahead.      

Local shares are set to open lower today. At 8am AEDT, the ASX 200 March futures is pointing down by 0.65%.

Today, the Reserve Bank Governor participates in a panel discussion at the Banking 2022 Conference in Sydney at 9.15am AEDT.

In China, data on new vehicle sales are expected to be released and, in the US, preliminary reading of consumer sentiment for March is expected with the monthly budget statement. Sentiment is the weakest for over a decade on inflation worries.

 

TRADING HALTS

The following companies are in Trading Halts and are expected out in the coming days.

PSC Insurance Group (ASX:PSI) – capital raising

Pantoro (ASX:PNR)  – capital raising

Westgold Resources Limited (ASX: WGX) – capital raising

Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) – capital raising

 

MARKETS (updated at 7.45am AEDT)

Gold: $US1,997.73 (+0.31%)

Silver: $US25.87 (+0.54%)

Oil (WTI): $US106.22 (-2.28%)

Oil (Brent): $US109.73 (-1.25%)

Aust Coking Coal (steelmaking): $US625.50/t (-02.5%)

Iron 62pc Fe: $US156.95 (-0.41%)

AUD/USD: $US0.7360 (+0.52%)

Bitcoin: $US39,482 (-5.77%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING YESTERDAY?

This is the market right now.

…which is making everything a lot more expensive to buy, including EVs.

 

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Also, be sure to check in at 10.20am each day for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.

 

YESTERDAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

The table with ID 8428 not exists.

Advanced Human Imaging (ASX:AHI), a WA-based med-tech which specialises in images of advanced humans (actually, they have a pretty cool smartphone-based scanner for your fitness levels and such), jumped out of the Thursday blocks – gaining over 37% by lunchtime thanks to an obviously unpopular Bank of New York Mellon Corporation cutting its stake and consequently trimming its voting power.

Julian Hanna, co-founder and managing director of nickel miner Western Areas (ASX:WSA), will join explorer St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) as general manager for growth and development.

During his 12-year tenure, WSA grew from a $6m IPO to Australia’s No. 1 independent nickel sulphide producer.

And retail giant/has-been Myer (ASX:MYR) enjoyed some decent actual sales growth over the first half , up 8.5% largely thanks to stupendous online sales which continue to outperform –  up 47.5%.

All of this helped bring in $32.3m in net profits – 55% better than the prior year, adjusted for Jobkeeper.

 

YESTERDAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow fell after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

The table with ID 8432 not exists.

Tough times it was on Thursday for Tali (ASX:TD1). The med-tech fell hard and fast after revealing plans to raise $1.5m via placement at a horrendous 42.1% discount to the last closing price.

Australian Dairy Nutritionals Group (ASX:AHF) was down well over 6% after raising $4.5 million through the issue of 69.5 million new stapled securities.

AHF recently announced its infant formula ranges would be sold nationally in Chemist Warehouse and has appointed a distributor in China.