Top 10 at 11: ASX lifts broadly in cautious open as tariff deadline approaches

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.

Positive start to trade

The ASX 200 has lifted in the first hour of trade this week, climbing 0.25% by about 11am AEST.

It’s a choppy start to the session but an overall positive direction to start the week off, with 8 of 11 sectors moving higher.

Info tech is leading gains, followed by real estate and healthcare, with some support from the All Ord Gold index (+1.14%) despite a fall in gold prices over the weekend.

Oil also slid on Friday, down 1.1% to a three-week low of US$68.44 a barrel of Brent, and iron ore also dipped marginally, sliding 0.1% to US$98.55 a tonne on Friday before recovering to US$102.05 per tonne today.

With Trump’s tariff deadline swiftly approaching – due this Friday, August 1 – it’s bound to be a chaotic week of trade.

WINNERS

In the news…

Enterprise resource management firm Jcurve (ASX:JCS) has launched a strategic private placement with Colorado-based investor Adam Riches, raising $1m via 20m shares priced at $0.05 each.

The placement price represents a 66.67% premium to the last traded price of $0.0300 – the terms of the investment give Riches the right to appoint a director to the JCS board. Jcurve expects him to select Chris Miller as a non-executive director, current senior vice president of Netgain Solutions.

Sprintex (ASX:SIX) has locked in a three-year supply agreement with leading Chinese aquaculture equipment supplier, Guangdong Baode Technology, for G15 series jet blowers. SIX reckons the exclusive contract holds a total value of A$9.3m, offering a path to scale into China’s pond-based aquaculture market.

China accounts for 60% of global aquaculture production each year, with south China (Guangdong province included) producing over half of China’s national output.

LAGGARDS

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