Top 10 at 11: Renewed tariff talks spook markets; ASX opens higher

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 10:15, once trading kicks off in earnest.

In brief, this is what the markets have been up to this morning.

Trump pushes back against tariff deal pressure

US President Trump pushed back against mounting pressure to lock-in trade deals with major trading partners on Tuesday night, grumbling that the US didn’t need to “sign deals” with trade partners.

“Everyone says, ‘When, when, when are you going to sign deals?’” Trump said during a White House meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“We don’t have to sign deals, they have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market.”

Those comments come after Treasury secretary Scott Bessent assured CNBC that the administration was “very close to some deals”.

US markets fell across the board in response.

Healthcare stocks hit hard

The biotech sector took fresh promises from Trump that a pharmaceutical tariff would be announced within the next two weeks particularly hard, sliding 2.8% overall.

Major healthcare stocks including Amgen and Merck, and the notorious health insurance company UnitedHealth fell between 2.5% and 4.6%.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals took a 10% fall, hit with the double whammy of unimpressive quarterly results and looming tariffs.

The Dow dropped a full percentage point, the S&P500 fell 0.8% and the Nasdaq shed 0.9%.

European healthcare stocks fared no better, falling 1.1%. Drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk fell 3.9%.

The FTSE300 dipped 0.3%, not taking quite as much damage as its US counterparts, while the UKFTSE100 tipped up by just 1.07 points.

Oil and gold both on the rise

Increased demand from Europe and China and a new round of buyers lifted oil prices from four-year lows, rising more than 3%.

OPEC+ still intends to increase production next month, meaning continued upward movement is certainly not guaranteed, but Brent lifted 3.2% to US$62.15 a barrel.

Spiking uncertainty caused by renewed tariff grumbles and increased demand from China also lifted gold prices 3%, with gold futures rising to US$3,422.80 an ounce.

Base metals climbed as well – copper lifted 1.7%, aluminium 0.2%, and iron ore 1.3% to US$98.63 a tonne.

ASX opens higher despite headwinds

While renewed talks of a pharmaceutical tariff are bound to have an effect on Aussie markets today, the ASX has opened higher in the first hour of trading, tipping up just 0.08% as of 10:30 AM AEST.

The Healthcare sector is already 1.5% in the red, closely followed by Consumer Discretionary (-1.35%) and Info Tech (-1.15%).

Financials (+0.83%) and Energy (+0.81%) are pacing in the opposite direction, followed by Materials (+0.69%) and Utilities (+0.57%).

Overall, five sectors are up and six down.

The ASX 200 Banks, Resources and All Ords Gold indices are also tracking higher, rising between 1% and 0.6%, while the Tech index is down 0.92%.

Now, onto our winners and laggards for the morning.

WINNERS

In the news…

Yari Minerals (ASX:YAR) has snapped up the Rolleston South coal project in Queensland, claiming ownership of the 78.9Mt inferred JORC resource. The project is host to at least six under-developed coal seams – the company will review the resource model first, before moving to resource expansion and upgrade drilling.

Bucking against the bearish biotech sentiment currently weighing on markets, prescription management and patient engagement company MedAdvisor Solutions (ASX:MDR) shares are higher after accepting a letter of intent from a prominent multinational listed software business to buy MDR’s ANZ business division.

MedAdvisor’s directors have executed the LoI, as they believe the offer is materially higher in value than what is implied by the company’s current share price.

LCL Resources (ASX:LCL) has negotiated a higher sale price for the Andes and Quinchia gold projects, increasing total consideration to $14m. The company negotiated a higher payable upon first gold pour, now set to receive $6.5m rather than $2.5m.

Targeting an initial mineral resource for early to mid-2026, Terrain Minerals (ASX:TMX) is poised to begin resource expansion drilling at the Lightning and Monza prospects within the Smokebush gold project.

The company is targeting some promising areas that have already revealed solid gold and silver mineralisation, up to 11m at 6.03 g/t gold and 43.5 g/t silver from 75m.

LAGGARDS

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