Lunch Wrap: ASX seesaws into a slippery dip as markets await tariff pause deadline

The ASX was down 0.36pc around lunch time, despite strong gains in the utilities sector. Gold and banks moved lower, undercutting momentum.

The ASX 200 seesawed back and forth in the first few hours of trade, struggling to find an equilibrium. Pic: Getty Images.

• Utilities and healthcare stocks on the up

• Gold stocks dragging, down more than 2pc

• ASX All Tech adds 0.24pc

ASX seesaws wildly ahead of tariff pause deadline

The ASX wasn't quite sure which way to go earlier this morning, but as of about 1pm AEST it seems to have made up its mind, dipping by about 0.36% at the time of publishing.

Jumping 10 points in the first five minutes, the ASX 200 dropped about the same before spiking back up again an hour later.

It's been a choppy affair ever since, but at least the utilities sector is doing its best to stem too much blood.

Source: Market Index

Looking at our large caps, market favourites Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) and Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) are trending lower, down 0.12% and 6.6% each.

NST failed to meet its revised production guidance range for the Kalgoorlie production centre, offloading 842k ounces compared to guidance of 850-860k.

The company managed to scrape just over the line for its total gold production guidance numbers, producing 1.643m ounces compared to estimates of 1.63-1.66, but the market was overall displeased with the update.

Healthcare giant CSL (ASX:CSL) is moving in the opposite direction, adding 1.94% alongside a 1.85% jump for James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX).

Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) has also jumped more than 6% intraday, leading the greater utilities sector higher.

12 countries to receive “take it or leave it” offers

Twelve countries currently negotiating trade deals with the US Trump administration will soon receive letters offering a final deal from the White House.

A pause on tariffs set to be imposed on the majority of US trading partners will expire on July 9, with most tariffs going into effect by August 1.

"I signed some letters and they'll go out on Monday, probably twelve," Trump said, when asked about the trade negotiations. "Different amounts of money, different amounts of tariffs."

While the Trump administration was initially very optimistic about establishing concrete trade deals with its major partners, the prez has since changed his tune, stating it was easier to send a letter.

That tracks – most major trade deals take years to negotiate, so it was always going to be a tall order to come to dozens of agreements in a matter of months.

Hotly anticipated deals with India and the EU appear to have fallen through at the last minute, leaving the door open for some big market upsets when the new tariffs finally come into effect.

On Friday, Trump added more fuel to that fire, stating tariffs could range up to 70% compared to the 10% to 50% threatened in April.

That said, investors aren’t running for the hills as they were on Liberation Day.

"The markets are discounting a return to tariff levels of 35%, 40% or higher, and anticipating an across-the-board level of 10% or so,” Boston-based Twinfocus chief investment officer John Pantekidis told Reuters.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 7 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
VN8	Vonex Limited.	0.036	100%	2156808	$13,546,863
BMM	Bayanminingandmin	0.06	71%	21465707	$3,603,439
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.0015	50%	546851	$3,253,779
BPM	BPM Minerals	0.043	48%	9538695	$2,531,709
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.011	38%	495333	$3,420,351
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.004	33%	13565308	$8,996,849
FRB	Firebird Metals	0.098	27%	1505249	$10,961,828
NWM	Norwest Minerals	0.014	27%	4401658	$10,651,944
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.0075	25%	2850600	$17,597,974
BIT	Biotron Limited	0.0025	25%	1617648	$2,654,492
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.0025	25%	297011	$3,122,944
MMR	Mec Resources	0.005	25%	8400000	$7,399,063
SKK	Stakk Limited	0.005	25%	102300	$8,300,319
SRZ	Stellar Resources	0.02	25%	15750554	$33,276,009
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.0025	25%	501642	$20,444,766
SCP	Scalare Partners	0.13	24%	2500	$4,392,677
NH3	Nh3Cleanenergyltd	0.05	22%	3120545	$26,093,310
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.006	20%	45000	$5,890,381
WSR	Westar Resources	0.006	20%	840301	$1,993,624
CMO	Cosmometalslimited	0.02	18%	878586	$5,476,306
DRE	Dreadnought Resources Ltd	0.0105	17%	4930863	$45,715,500
AON	Apollo Minerals Ltd	0.007	17%	413000	$5,570,741
AS2	Askarimetalslimited	0.007	17%	1859773	$2,425,024
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.007	17%	1550000	$12,615,418
RRR	Revolverresources	0.036	16%	114474	$8,564,502

In the news…

Bayan Mining and Minerals (ASX:BMM) has staked 72 lode claims in the Mojave Desert of California in a bid to form the Desert Star rare earth project.

It’s a Tier 1 area for rare earth mineralisation, just 4.5km from the Mountain Pass REE Mine (supplied 15.8% of global rare earth production in 2020) and 4.7km from Dateline Resources’ (ASX:DTR) Colosseum project, which has shown similar radio metric signatures for REE mineralisation to Mountain Pass.

BMM will begin with a desktop review, field recon and rock chip sampling to drum up some early drilling targets.

Back on Australian soil, BPM Minerals (ASX:BPM) is preparing to begin drilling at its newly acquired Forelands gold project in the Yilgarn Craton–Albany Fraser Orogen margin of WA.

The project has already produced bonanza-grade hits up to 3m at 65.8 g/t gold from 25m of depth in drilling, and BPM reckons Foreland presents a near-term resource conversion opportunity.

Tenement acquisition is a bit of a theme today – Westar Resources (ASX:WSR) is also moving higher after staking a new copper tenement application in the under-explored Birrindudu Basin of Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory Geological Survey and CSIRO both found evidence of sedimentary copper deposits in a review of drill core from Birrindudu, highlighting the area as a potential frontier district for copper mineralisation.

Finally, Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) is launching a test work sampling program at the Mangaroon critical metal project after fielding growing commercial interest in the rare earth and critical mineral potential of the Gillford Creek prospect.

Gillford Creek is prospective for a suite of rare earths as well as niobium, scandium, titanium, phosphorus and zirconium.

DRE management stresses that this sampling program won’t distract from its ‘More gold, Faster’ strategy, but will advance its critical metal commercialisation ambitions.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 7 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.002	-33%	7556216	$16,859,278
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.003	-25%	1009478	$8,305,165
EXT	Excite Technology	0.008	-20%	1136999	$20,726,419
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.002	-20%	750000	$7,051,062
HTG	Harvest Tech Grp Ltd	0.015	-17%	773452	$16,362,330
PV1	Provaris Energy Ltd	0.015	-17%	613604	$12,564,023
ALM	Alma Metals Ltd	0.005	-17%	1224333	$11,104,423
ARV	Artemis Resources	0.005	-17%	156112	$15,214,033
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.0025	-17%	751500	$2,335,467
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.0025	-17%	31999	$6,515,783
AVM	Advance Metals Ltd	0.041	-16%	6485856	$12,986,707
AGY	Argosy Minerals Ltd	0.029	-15%	13769095	$49,501,312
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.006	-14%	2943588	$4,023,451
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.003	-14%	104766	$5,544,670
LCL	LCL Resources Ltd	0.006	-14%	95362	$8,394,800
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.006	-14%	750000	$32,306,508
SFM	Santa Fe Minerals	0.125	-14%	40492	$10,558,724
SVG	Savannah Goldfields	0.02	-13%	630461	$26,256,272
AJX	Alexium Int Group	0.007	-13%	39265	$12,691,429
AM5	Antares Metals	0.007	-13%	2163706	$4,118,823
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.007	-13%	20000	$10,544,500
GSM	Golden State Mining	0.007	-13%	2000000	$2,234,965
RGL	Riversgold	0.0035	-13%	875981	$6,734,850
BRU	Buru Energy	0.023	-12%	1504129	$20,264,650
SPQ	Superior Resources	0.004	-11%	490000	$10,669,422

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Break it Down: MTM Critical Metals (ASX:MTM) is adding national security expert Gregory L. Bowman to the advisory board of US subsidiary Flash Metals USA.

Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) has leveraged results from geochemical sampling near the Minos project to identify new gold targets.

Australia has a new globally focused deep tech company in MagnaTerra Technologies following the merger of mining innovator NextOre and explosives detection startup MRead.

As the US starts to ramp up domestic antimony support, Nova Minerals’ (ASX:NVA) Estelle Project in Alaska is shaping up as a strategic solution.

QMines (ASX:QML) has finalised acquisition of Mt Mackenzie and accelerated its goal to establish a multi-asset copper and gold production centre.

StockTake: Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) has boosted its exploration prospects at the Green River lithium project in Utah.

Break it Down: Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) is raising $40 million dollars by way of placement to put its Minyari Dome gold project on rails to development.

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 seesaws into a slippery dip as markets await tariff pause deadline