Rise and Shine: What you need to know before the ASX opens

On Stockhead today, medtechs set to rise on vaccination, who’s releasing 7 million shares soon, and which goldie’s looking good right now?

But first…

The day ahead

The All Ordinaries index carried on its gentle downward journey since Monday’s recent peak of 7,065 points and closed at 6,947 points Wednesday, down 0.7 per cent on day.

The Australian dollar was trading at 77 US cents mid-week, and is down 2 cents from mid-February, when it nearly hit its January 2018 high of 81 US cents.

A slippage in Chinese iron ore futures prices to a one-month low of $US158.40 per tonne was enough to trigger some profit-taking in certain iron ore stocks.

Iron ore futures prices soon overcame their jitters later in the day and were trading at $US165 per tonne for May settlement.

Eyes will be on whether US stocks can maintain their stellar performance of Tuesday when the Nasdaq index soared by nearly 4 per cent, and Tesla rose nearly 20 per cent on day.

TRADING HALTS

The following companies are in trading halts and are expected to exit over the next two trading days:

Thursday:

Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) – capital raising
Carnavale Resources (ASX:CAV) – capital raising
IODM (ASX:IOD) – Western Union partnership update
Western Areas (ASX:WSA) – capital raising
Cohiba (ASX:CHK) – exploration results
New Century Resources (ASX:NCZ) – auditor update
Insurance Australia Group (ASX:IAG) – impact of Greensill’s insolvency

Friday:

Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) – FLTEM survey
Hexagon Energy (ASX:HXG) – change to nature of activities
Jindalee Resources (ASX:JRL) – final assay results from drilling program

MARKETS

Gold: $US1,725.22 ($2,230.90) (+0.57%)

Silver: $US26.17 ($33.83) (+1.07%)

Oil (WTI): $US64.56 (+0.87%)

Oil (Brent): $US68.00 (+0.73%)

Coal: $US82.80 (+1.60%)

Iron 62pc Fe: $US168.44 (+0.01%)

AUD/USD: $US0.7792 (-0.40%)

Bitcoin: $US56,325.00 (+4.20%)

What got you talking yesterday

Stockhead readers liked reading about how many American investors look to Elon Musk and his Twitter feed for investment ideas on everything from cryptocurrencies to stocks.

And, with China’s government setting out its plans for the new five years and beyond, Beijing appears to be preparing for another big iron ore and commodities intensive infrastructure spend.

To keep up to date with Stockhead coverage, follow our Twitter page or sign up to our members-only Facebook group here.

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 winners

Stocks highlighted in yellow made market moving announcements

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
APG	Austpac Resources NL	0.004	100	241,223,011
BAS	Bass Oil Ltd	0.002	100	4,770,000
ASO	Aston Minerals Ltd	0.058	71	153,732,284
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.0015	50	1,859,052
BRK	Brookside Energy Ltd	0.022	38	214,832,186
VIA	Viagold Rare Earth	0.08	31	50,000
CXM	Centrex Metals	0.066	27	5,212,607
OEX	Oilex Ltd	0.0025	25	1,701,685
HSN	Hansen Technologies	5.21	24	1,908,778
SHE	Stonehorse Energy Lt	0.026	24	40,404,129
HRN	Horizon Gold Ltd	0.48	21	29,944
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.006	20	28,762,147
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.012	20	1,695,355
MPR	Mpower Group Limited	0.125	19	2,560,671
JAN	Janison Edu Group	0.7	19	775,904
KIN	KIN Min NL	0.13	18	2,349,243
OKJ	Oakajee Corp Ltd	0.065	18	4,384
OSP	Osprey Med Inc	0.02	18	14,024,060
MAN	Mandrake Res Ltd	0.17	17	6,040,141
LAM	Laramide Res Ltd	0.62	17	10,666
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	0.007	17	186,875

Yesterday’s losers

Stocks highlighted in yellow made market moving announcements

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
CHK	Cohiba Min Ltd	0.017	-64	185,407,976
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.011	-45	34,182,220
ECT	Env Clean Tech Ltd.	0.001	-33	200,000
FPL	Fremont Petroleum	0.004	-20	25,017,435
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.002	-20	12,795,000
UUV	UUV Aquabotix Ltd	0.002	-20	342,340
TKL	Traka Resources	0.014	-18	3,819,620
AZI	Alta Zinc Ltd	0.005	-17	2,280,000
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.0025	-17	36,815,622
ZEU	Zeus Resources Ltd	0.029	-15	964,384
LRS	Latin Resources Ltd	0.053	-15	66,433,413
PEX	Peel Mining Limited	0.265	-15	1,403,390
TPD	Talon Petroleum Ltd	0.006	-14	106,902,794
AOU	Auroch Minerals Ltd	0.19	-14	3,746,231
WSA	Western Areas Ltd	2.03	-13	12,140,583
GEN	Genmin	0.295	-13	8,665,329
VAR	Variscan Mines Ltd	0.027	-13	716,667
RFX	Redflow Limited	0.069	-13	23,073,957
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.007	-13	150,000
TYX	Tyranna Res Ltd	0.007	-13	1,285,624
VAL	Valor Resources Ltd	0.007	-13	1,325,901