Top 10 at 11: ASX continues slide but small caps ink new deals

Morning, and welcome to Stockhead’s Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading.

With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10.15am in the east, once trading kicks off in earnest.

In brief, this is what the market has been up to this morning.

Lifting oil prices fuels energy gains

The ASX 200 has tipped 32 points or 0.36% lower in the first hour of trade. Only three sectors are higher, led by energy.

An unexpected fall in US crude stocks overnight drove oil up 2%. Brent is trading at about US$62.59 a barrel this morning.

Energy traders were quick to capitalise, building on yesterday’s momentum to lift the energy sector 2.37%.

It’s a bright spot in an otherwise reticent market. Only the defensives of utilities and real estate are gaining ground at present.

Interestingly, the All Ords Gold index is up 1.5% this morning despite another small slide in the gold price overnight.

After yesterday’s selldown, there’s more than one bargain out there for traders bullish on gold’s long-term outlook.

Gold futures are sitting at about US$4108 per ounce at present, mirroring prices last set about two weeks ago.

The ASX Small Ords is bucking the market trend to lift just 2 points, adding 0.07%.

SMALL CAP WINNERS

In the news…

Axiom Properties (ASX:AXI) has launched Settlement Advance, a financial product designed to “bridge the funding gap between selling and buying property”.

AXI has teamed up with Securexchange to deliver the new product. Vendors can access up to 350,000 or 80% of available equity in their property with no upfront fees and no repayments until maturity.

Thor Energy (ASX:THR) is collaborating with DISA Technologies to treat abandoned uranium mine waste dumps with the goal of recovering saleable uranium and other critical minerals.

DISA just nabbed a licence from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to remediate abandoned uranium mine waste, so THR is keen to get to work on the waste dumps on its own claims.

VRX Silica (ASX:VRX) has inked four new offtake contracts for silica products from its Arrowsmith North project, totalling about half of its start-up capacity at 410,000 tonnes per annum.

VRX’s contracts are with established foundry suppliers in South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. The company expects to begin producing silica sand products by late 2026.

Red Sky Energy (ASX:ROG) is poised to spud a new well (Killanoola-2) within Petroleum Retention Licence 13, after locking down approvals. Management says it’s a major milestone, and expects to begin casing the hole within days.

SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.