Top 10 at 11: ASX opens flat as energy and utilities stocks pull back

The ASX has started the day pretty much dead flat as energy and utilities stocks fall in early trade, offset by gains in gold stocks.

The ASX opened just about dead flat this morning as oil prices pull back from recent highs. Pic: Getty Images.

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 wobbles out the gate

The ASX has had an unsettled start to the day, yo-yoing a few points either side of neutral in the first half hour or so of trade.

As of about 10.30am AEST, the ASX 200 is down 0.01% and the All Ords has gained 0.02%.

Oil prices slid overnight as tensions between Israel and Iran continued to simmer without flaring too much higher, losing 1.3% to US$73.23 a barrel of Brent crude.

Santos (ASX:STO) hovered slightly below its Monday close as investors get jittery Treasurer Jim Chalmers will nix a $8.89 a share cash deal that will give control of key Aussie LNG assets to a consortium led by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company on national interest grounds. They're sitting at $7.69 a pop.

That took the wind out of energy (-0.24%) and utilities (-0.35%) sector sails, which had been on a tear the last couple of days, effectively propping up the market against a tide of red yesterday.

The ASX All Ords gold sub-index is instead providing some stability today, up 0.78% alongside a 0.46% gain in the materials sector itself.

Tech stocks are also on the up, with the sector adding 0.36% and the index a more modest 0.24%.

WINNERS

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PVT	Pivotal Metals Ltd	0.012	100%	18841513	$5,443,355
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.0015	50%	142500	$6,684,681
VR8	Vanadium Resources	0.019	36%	1278085	$7,900,086
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.002	33%	354721	$3,430,919
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.008	33%	500000	$1,910,543
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.0025	25%	200948	$6,046,718
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.0025	25%	426584	$8,219,762
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.0025	25%	330000	$3,413,768
MX1	Micro-X Limited	0.053	23%	551443	$28,689,697
FCT	Firstwave Cloud Tech	0.018	20%	25000	$25,702,780

In the news...

Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) is eyeing a transition to near-term production for its Steelpoortdrift vanadium project, after inking an MoU with China Precious Asia for the supply of magnetite ore.

While non-binding at this stage, VR8 has agreed to provide 100,000 tonnes of vanadium-rich direct shipping magnetite ore per month, subsequently unlocking early-stage revenue to support staged development of Steelpoortdrift.

Metgasco (ASX:MEL) released its monthly gas production results for its assets in the Odin and Vali gas fields, notching an 8% increase on the previous month to produce 100 MMscf of raw gas.

Cold cathode x-ray technology company Micro-X (ASX:MX1) has passed a second and third milestone under its development agreements with ARPA-H and Billion Prima, netting a total of $2.3m in return. The company is developing a Full Body CT scanner for ARPA-H and a baggage and parcel scanning unit for Billion Prima.

LAGGARDS

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.001	-33%	660744	$7,254,899
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	-20%	59000	$15,315,373
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.002	-20%	15408	$7,513,788
TFL	Tasfoods Ltd	0.004	-20%	7937	$2,185,478
MQR	Marquee Resource Ltd	0.009	-18%	577453	$6,141,328
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.005	-17%	5427273	$12,412,060
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.0025	-17%	1229038	$30,667,149
SPQ	Superior Resources	0.003	-14%	262597	$8,298,440
MKL	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.013	-13%	239000	$7,292,125
KRR	King River Resources	0.008	-11%	201516	$13,753,987

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

Originally published as Top 10 at 11: ASX opens flat as energy and utilities stocks pull back