Lunch Wrap: ASX grinds up on back of miners; tariff-obsessed Trump turns to grog

The ASX has grabbed some welcome relief at lunch, thanks to the efforts of local miners. Can it last into the weekend?

Pic via Getty Images

• ASX gets some welcome relief… can it last into weekend?

• Miners have come to the rescue after iron ore prices ticked up 

• Wall Street, however, hammered again on more tariff chatter from "The Donald" 

The ASX is bouncing back with a 0.44% gain by Friday lunchtime (AEDT), driven by a rally in the mining sector.

Miners rebounded after iron ore prices jumped to above US$102 per tonne overnight, driving up the big players like BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Fortescue (ASX:FMG).

Gold miners also saw a big lift as gold prices surged to a new record, coming close to the US$3000 mark.

Macquarie is tipping that gold could hit US$3500 sometime this year as Trump’s tariffs and weak inflation spook markets.

Meanwhile overnight, Wall Street was hammered again, closing at its lowest point since September. The S&P 500 has now fallen over 10% from its February peak, officially entering correction territory.

“Most corrections take about two months to play out,” said John Kolovos at Macro Risk Advisors.

He warned that while US stocks appear oversold, “we aren’t there yet in terms of time, as it took us about two weeks to get to these levels.”

And Trump has just upped the ante, threatening a 200% tariff on European wine, champagne, and spirits if the EU goes ahead with its 50% tax on American whiskey.

The latest move is set to escalate the trade war.

“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES,” Trump wrote.

“This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

Back to the ASX, miners shone, but banks and consumer discretionary stocks weighed on the exchange again.

Source: Market Index

In the large caps space, Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) has trimmed its half-year loss to $15.2 million, down from $31.3 million last year. Revenue hit $100.4 million, with over 100,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate sold.

The miner kicked off production at its Kathleen Valley mine in July last year, however, due to low lithium prices, Liontown has revised its production forecast to 2.3 million tonnes per year from FY25. Shares were up 3%.

And, Myer (ASX:MYR) has added a bunch of new key roles, including Kathy Karabatsas as its new CFO, and Megan Collins as Chief People Officer. The revamp comes after Myer’s merger with Apparel Brands. Shares were up 2%.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for March 14 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.002	100%	1,777,522	$2,031,723
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	100%	879,454	$4,836,599
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.005	67%	2,500,000	$1,794,553
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.0015	50%	622,579	$1,878,652
RLT	Renergen Limited	0.61	36%	68,680	$13,646,689
WOA	Wide Open Agricultur	0.034	31%	14,319,854	$13,875,852
SRZ	Stellar Resources	0.018	29%	21,189,751	$29,116,508
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.005	25%	3,340,114	$12,000,000
ERA	Energy Resources	0.0025	25%	3,682,883	$810,792,482
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.0025	25%	2,310,254	$4,887,272
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.0025	25%	260,000	$11,790,134
RAC	Race Oncology Ltd	1.28	24%	328,083	$178,933,514
MLX	Metals X Limited	0.6625	22%	26,570,413	$483,083,388
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.024	20%	236,909	$9,251,842
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.003	20%	1,100,000	$15,115,373
SRI	Sipa Resources Ltd	0.012	20%	355,725	$4,163,983
COB	Cobalt Blue Ltd	0.065	18%	818,131	$24,171,032
VMC	Venus Metals Cor Ltd	0.13	18%	586,791	$21,574,155
VR1	Vection Technologies	0.026	18%	2,937,672	$33,492,583
PGO	Pacgold	0.072	18%	270,181	$8,018,715
TMB	Tambourahmetals	0.033	18%	1,464,862	$3,292,521

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) has turned heads in the ASX biotech sector today after the company was given ethics approval for a phase I trial of RC220 alone and in combination with doxorubicin in adult solid tumour patients. The trial will be the first time patients have received the drug RC220 bisantrene.

Renergen Limited (ASX:RLT), a producer of liquid helium and liquefied natural gas is up today on the back of what the company says is a "long-awaited event of filling a helium container with liquid", which has now taken place. In other words, RLT has now begun its commercial liquid helium sales.

"The quality of both our LNG and liquid helium now exceeds minimum design specifications," emphasised the company, adding: "We remain committed to increasing production and developing the Virginia Gas Project to its
full potential."

Vital Metals (ASX:VML), an advanced-stage exploration/development rare earths company, is up today after announcing this morning that it has entered a 12-month convertible loan agreement for $1 million and has formed a Canadian Strategic REE Consortium with industry expertise.

The company is currently completing a scoping study for its Tardiff deposit in Canada, examining the potential size and scalability of rare earths and niobium recovery from the deposit.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for March 14 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
ASP	Aspermont Limited	0.003	-40%	2,223,688	$12,350,058
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.002	-33%	400,000	$2,335,467
GT1	Greentechnology	0.039	-33%	3,076,101	$22,547,622
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.0015	-25%	3,340,692	$57,867,624
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.003	-25%	6,192,496	$2,433,233
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.0015	-25%	12,648,128	$6,716,008
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	-25%	38,016,731	$37,454,660
RB6	Rubixresources	0.087	-21%	50,000	$6,759,500
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,342,563	$10,601,880
ALR	Altairminerals	0.002	-20%	2,500	$10,741,860
CRR	Critical Resources	0.004	-20%	300,000	$12,321,106
KGD	Kula Gold Limited	0.004	-20%	4,865	$4,606,268
GUM	Gumtree Australia	0.11	-19%	22,914	$43,331,298
GES	Genesis Resources	0.009	-18%	2,945	$8,611,254
PLN	Pioneer Lithium	0.12	-17%	23,391	$5,555,194
AMS	Atomos	0.005	-17%	19,235	$7,290,111
ECT	Env Clean Tech Ltd.	0.0025	-17%	116,684	$10,940,431
CKA	Cokal Ltd	0.043	-16%	1,588,300	$55,026,398
SPQ	Superior Resources	0.006	-14%	531,485	$15,189,047
CBL	Control Bionics	0.037	-14%	214,830	$12,668,277
TNY	Tinybeans Group Ltd	0.062	-14%	23,906	$10,649,552
NWC	New World Resources	0.019	-14%	9,816,731	$77,908,198
SCP	Scalare Partners	0.165	-13%	21,011	$6,627,732
ARV	Artemis Resources	0.007	-13%	460,000	$20,228,234

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Explorer Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) has appointed Jeremy Read as non-executive director to its board. Read is described as a “seasoned minerals resource industry executive”, having worked in Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Africa, North America and India.

Commodities Read has worked with include precious and base metals, particularly in nickel sulphides, copper and gold. He previously spent 11 years working for BHP and today serves as the chairman of Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL).

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Latitude 66 and Race Oncology are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Lunch Wrap: ASX grinds up on back of miners; tariff-obsessed Trump turns to grog