Top 10 at 11: ASX slides 0.2pc as geopolitical threat to crude supply escalates

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, once trading kicks off in earnest.

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

ASX follows global markets lower

The ASX has fallen 0.20% as of about 10:30 am AEST, driven lower by weakness in resource and banking stocks.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has reached its fifth day, with no signs of tensions abating.

Trump has called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender”, warning US patience was waning.

The Strait of Hormuz remains open at present, although as Eddy Sunarto reported this morning, two oil tankers collided nearby – ostensibly due to electronic interference cause by the conflict.

Oil rose once again, adding 4% to US$76.45 a barrel of brent crude, but gold fell 0.3% overnight against a strengthening US dollar.

Between that and a 0.4% retraction in iron ore prices, it’s going to be a tough day for ASX mining companies.

The info tech and energy sectors are providing some support, up 1.18% and 0.55% respectively, but any real progress is likely to be an uphill battle for the market today.

Both US and European share markets fell last night, succumbing to global headwinds.

The S&P 500 slid 0.8%, the Nasdaq 0.9%, the Eurofirst FTSE 300 0.9% and the UK FTSE 100 0.5%.

Let’s see who’s bucking the trend in trade this morning…

WINNERS

In the news…

Medibank (ASX:MPL) will fund customer participation in Emyria’s (ASX:EMD) post traumatic stress disorder care program with no out-of-pocket costs, after signing a multi-year agreement.

The funding agreement marks the first major private health insurer to fund a psychotherapy-led PTSD program in Australia. EMD says it’s a strong validation of its Empax model, which integrates psychiatrist-supervised therapy, innovative MDMA-based medications, care coordination, and real-world data capture.

Newpeak Metals (ASX:NPM) has welcomed news that Lake Blue Energy is preparing to spud the Wombat-5 well in Petroleum Retention Lease 2 after getting the green light from the Victorian government.

NPM holds a 16.3% stake in Lake Blue, meaning the company is keen to unlock Wombat-5’s potential. An independent assessment suggests the well could produce up to 10 TJ (10mmcfd) of gas per day.

European Lithium’s (ASX:EUR) subsidiary Critical Metals Corp has been offered a US$120m funding package by the Export-Import Bank of the United States via a non-binding and conditional letter of interest.

With a 15-year term, the package would be subject to key development milestones for the Tanbreez rare earth project, including permitting, feasibility studies and environmental assessments.

archTIS (ASX:AR9) is back in the news, locking in a three-year NC Protect contract with a UK-based aerospace and defence corporation to the tune of $263k.

The initial contract is for 400 users, but the global cloud migration implementation will serve as a model for Microsoft365 deployment, across an enterprise with more than 100,000 employees.

Having just signed a similar contract with the US Department of Defense, AR9 says the deals are clear evidence of the growing demand for its data-centric security offering across defence and industrial organisations.

LAGGARDS

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