Closing Bell: ASX jumps 0.69pc as energy and resources do the heavy lifting

The ASX has added 0.69pc in a solid day of trading with 11 of 10 sectors in the green. Resources stocks led gains once again.

Resource stocks have been flexing their muscles on the ASX of late, headlining gains on the ASX three sessions in a row. Pic: Getty Images

• Resource stocks fuel market gains again, up 0.96pc

• 10 of 11 sectors higher as trade deal provides much needed relief

• ASX now 0.45pc off all-time high

ASX surges on iron, gold and trade deals

A 2% uptick in iron ore, a more than 1% gain in gold prices and a Japanese-US trade deal have delighted ASX investors.

The ASX200 shot up 0.69%, with 10 of 11 sectors climbing. Materials (+1.22%) and energy (+0.83%) put in the hard work, leading the rest of the bourse higher.

Source: Market Index

Headlining gains were our miners.

Copper and gold company 29 Metals (ASX:29M) climbed 8.7%, graphite-focused Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) 8.3%, gold producer Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) 6.1% and lithium miner Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) 6.8%.

Over in energy, Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) ticked up 6.45%, Woodside (ASX:WDS) added 1.45% and Ampol (ASX:ALD) lifted 3.27%.

The banks have also made a recovery after slipping for three trading days straight, with the ASX 200 Banks index climbing 0.86%.

Source: Market Index.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) gained 1.42%, Suncorp (ASX:SUN) 0.89% and ANZ (ASX:ANZ) surged 2.5%.

Japan and US lock in trade deal

As the US dollar and bond yields continue to fall over increasing uncertainty around US President Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline, Japan has gotten ahead of the pack.

Our northern trade partner has agreed to invest $US550 billion in the US economy and pay a tariff of 15%, according to a Truth Social post by Trump, wherein he also claimed Japan would lower barriers to trade in cars and rice.

The meatier details of the deal remain a mystery.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been under pressure to resign from his position after his coalition lost the majority in the upper house at the last election. His party suffered a similar defeat in the lower house last year.

“Our overarching concern is the interests of the nation,” Ishiba said.

“We are the first in the world to reduce tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, with no limits on volume,” he told reporters.

The Japanese Nikkei225 surged in response to the new trade deal, up 3.5% or 1420 points intraday to a 12-month high.

Automakers led the pack. Toyota jumped 15%, Honda 11% and Nissan 9%.

"The reduced 15% tariff, down from the previously flagged 25%, is meaningful and should lift sentiment in export-driven sectors, even if the fine print, especially on autos, remains critical,” Saxo Singapore Capital Markets chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said.

“Markets will largely discount the $550 billion FDI headline as political theatre rather than a tradable catalyst.

"Strategically, the deal allows Japan to sidestep immediate tariff escalation, while Trump's attention shifts elsewhere."

Japan joins a disappointingly small group of countries that have finalised formal trade deals with the US, including the Philippines, Indonesia, the UK, and Vietnam.

With just over a week left until the tariff pause expires, the rest of us are running out of time.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
GTE	Great Western Exp.	0.02	82%	7677247	$6,245,337
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.006	50%	35831194	$8,305,165
HLX	Helix Resources	0.0015	50%	64088	$3,364,194
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.0015	50%	4365000	$3,120,285
LPM	Lithium Plus	0.088	40%	664328	$8,368,920
CDE	Codeifai Limited	0.025	39%	64354470	$8,494,218
PFM	Platformo Ltd	0.076	38%	110	$5,219,957
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	50000	$2,084,665
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.009	29%	13644883	$9,226,437
ADC	Acdc Metals Ltd	0.054	29%	33106	$3,140,555
PVW	PVW Res Ltd	0.019	27%	552164	$2,983,572
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.005	25%	2046755	$12,000,000
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.0025	25%	266666	$12,700,222
WBE	Whitebark Energy	0.005	25%	2670365	$2,802,231
OPL	Opyl Limited	0.026	24%	2496114	$5,161,135
LKE	Lake Resources	0.047	24%	33093708	$68,519,692
AVG	Aust Vintage Ltd	0.11	21%	1387426	$29,981,126
AR3	Austrare	0.115	20%	1621941	$20,244,793
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.006	20%	667502	$5,890,381
AUR	Auris Minerals Ltd	0.006	20%	84033	$2,383,130
SKK	Stakk Limited	0.006	20%	388668	$10,375,398
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.019	19%	1858948	$7,561,473
MKLDB	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.16	19%	172335	$19,802,807
CR3	Core Energy Minerals	0.013	18%	5806723	$4,343,319
AAM	Aumegametals	0.042	17%	1743941	$21,817,825

In the news…

Codeifai (ASX:CDE) is building out its AI expertise with the addition of former Nvidia machine learning expert Rafael Possas to its advisory panel. CDE is preparing to double down on its AI and quantum security offerings with the roll out of its QuantumAI Secure platform.

Possas was part of the team that built AI assistant Alexa and most recently took up a role as Canva’s head of machine learning, and now joins a stacked advisory board full of veterans from OpenAI, WhatsApp and Binance. You can read more about the appointment here.

First Au (ASX:FAU) has put drills to ground for a 3000m drilling program at its Nimba Gold Project in Liberia, following up on an extensive field mapping program over a 10 square kilometre area.

FAU’s main focus is on confirming gold mineralisation around a historical hole drilled by previous explorers, but the program will also investigate new gold targets and look for extensions of potential gold zones.

As lithium sentiment improves, Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX:LPM) is putting the final regulatory pieces in place to begin operations at its Lei lithium development project in the Northern Territory.

Designed as a direct shipping ore operation in partnership with Canmax Technologies, LPM is gearing up to ship 50% of all DSO spodumene concentrate produced at Lei directly to Canmax, one of China’s leading lithium converters.

Pilot Energy (ASX:PGY) is poised to formally farm out its extensive offshore Perth Basin exploration acreage permit WA-481P. The ready-to-drill Leander Gas prospect has an estimated 1.1 TCF of gas prospective resources, with pre-existing pipelines/shore-crossing and associated permits already in place.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Last	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.001	-50%	99072	$9,673,198
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.002	-33%	212618	$1,459,411
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.004	-33%	9722100	$12,521,482
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.0015	-25%	11785807	$6,507,557
M2R	Miramar	0.003	-25%	10974269	$3,987,293
RIM	Rimfire Pacific	0.018	-25%	2919216	$60,621,453
SCP	Scalare Partners	0.13	-24%	290407	$7,111,954
DYM	Dynamicmetalslimited	0.2	-23%	201777	$12,761,928
KGD	Kula Gold Limited	0.007	-22%	6259796	$8,291,283
BIT	Biotron Limited	0.002	-20%	10000	$3,318,115
LEG	Legend Mining	0.008	-20%	6376975	$29,144,772
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.004	-20%	3466359	$2,128,192
ANO	Advance Zinctek Ltd	0.915	-17%	6274	$68,910,718
AN1	Anagenics Limited	0.005	-17%	4000	$2,977,922
CUL	Cullen Resources	0.005	-17%	1692777	$4,160,411
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.0025	-17%	200001	$4,113,952
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.01	-17%	266264	$5,969,508
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.0025	-17%	20000	$2,335,467
SPQ	Superior Resources	0.005	-17%	3700000	$14,225,896
TFL	Tasfoods Ltd	0.005	-17%	100000	$2,622,573
ENV	Enova Mining Limited	0.006	-14%	3195749	$10,203,200
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.006	-14%	255842	$4,944,821
LCL	LCL Resources Ltd	0.006	-14%	635789	$8,394,800
RC1	Redcastle Resources	0.006	-14%	3300591	$5,204,968
AU1	The Agency Group Aus	0.0215	-14%	44501	$10,989,415

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

A feasibility study for Magnetic Resources’ (ASX:MAU) Lady Julie project in WA highlights “one of the highest margin undeveloped gold projects in Australia”.

Asra Minerals’ (ASX:ASR) drilling has extended gold mineralisation at Gladstone prospect by 45m below previous intercepts, which could increase the resource footprint.

Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) has significantly boosted its gold inventory at Western Queen and reinforced the WA gold project’s potential for near-term development.

Trading Halts

Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) – exploration results from Yandal West
Askari Metals (ASX:AS2) – exploration update and ASX queries
International Graphite (ASX:IG6) – new graphite facility agreement
Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) – acquisition and cap raise
Larvotto Resources (ASX:LRV) – cap raise
St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) – cap raise
Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) – exploration results from Paris Gold Project
Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Codeifai is a Stockhead advertiser, 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 Closing Bell: ASX jumps 0.69pc as energy and resources do the heavy lifting