Top 10 at 11: ASX takes profits as US shutdown continues

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.

ASX takes its profits

The Aussie market has rotated into defensive stocks, locking in gains made yesterday by selling down on some of the more at-risk sectors.

Utilities, consumer staples and health care are on the up. Info tech and energy are struggling most.

The bourse had fallen 0.51% or about 46 points by about 11:30am AEDT, with eight of 11 sectors lower.

US market led us lower overnight, pressured by another failed bill to restore US government funding and some unexpected weakness in regional banks.

We’re just about to close out day 17 of the shutdown, and the effects on the US economy are beginning to be felt.

A US Treasury official told Reuters a two-week federal government shutdown could cost the US economy as much as US$15 billion per week in lost output.

House Republicans are showing no urgency to lift it.

Coincidently, House Democrats secured the final necessary vote to force the release of the Epstein files just hours before the shutdown began.

Curious timing.

With tensions still simmering between the US and China over critical mineral trade restrictions, the wobble in banking data was enough to push the main US indices down between 0.5% and 0.7%.

Gold set yet another high, powering up a whopping 4.7% to drive futures to US$4346.42 an ounce.

Like two dancers in sync, oil slid the other way, down another 1.37% to US$61.06 a barrel.

Copper futures inched down 0.3%, iron crept up just 1c US to US$105.56 a tonne and Bitcoin is still finding its feet, down 2.45% to US$108,078.50 this morning.

SMALL CAP WINNERS

In the news…

Hawk Resources (ASX:HWK) is locked-in to earn up to 80% in the Olympus scandium project in WA, supported by a $5 million placement that enjoyed strong support.

Management says the acquisition ties-in with the company’s long-term goals, wherein HWK will focus on producing copper in the near-term before transitioning to critical minerals moving forward.

Litchfield Minerals (ASX:LMS) is on the winners’ tables again today, after hitting an intersection of disseminated, semi-massive and massive sulphide mineralisation in a drill hole at the Oonagalabi project.

LMS was testing the VT2 conductor plate with the drill bit. The company struck sulphides from 180m and 291m, visually identifying iron sulphide, copper-iron sulphide and zinc-iron sulphide, similar to the project’s main zone.

Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) is chugging along on the antimony bandwagon, having hit high-grade mineralisation in the first round of drilling at the Magwood project in NSW. LDR’s drill bit hit multiple intersections of antimony over a 2.5km structure, topping out at 0.6m at 31.1% antimony and 0.7m at 26.4%.

Parkway Corporate (ASX:PWN) subsidiary Queensland Brine Solutions (QBS) has inked a binding option to lease a 10-hectare site to develop the QBS Brine Management Complex.

PWN intends to provide a solution for the large-scale and long-term waste brine management related challenges associated with coal seam gas (CSG) production in Queensland.

SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

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