Closing Bell: ASX inches higher on resources and energy gains as info tech slumps
The ASX 200 had a subdued day of trading, adding just 14.5 points on the back of gains in resource and energy sectors.
ASX adds just 14.5 points in subdued day of trade
Broad rally in commodity prices lifts resource stocks
Crude oil bounces 1.3% as Ukraine continues to strike Russian oil infrastructure
ASX grinds higher on commodity strength
A fresh attack from Ukraine on several points of Russian oil infrastructure drove crude oil prices up 1.3% to US$63.21 a barrel of Brent overnight.
Supply-side issues in copper and aluminium added 0.6% and 1.3% to futures respectively, while continued optimism around a US rate cut fuelled more gold gains.
Gold futures are trading at six-week highs of US$4252 an ounce.
Even iron ore got a look-in, tipping up 0.8% to US$106.94 a tonne on high volumes of medium-grade cargo buys.
All that to say the ASX would’ve been in dire straits in today’s trade, if not for some outsized moves in the resource and energy sectors.
BHP (ASX:BHP) lifted 1.14%, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) added 1.72% and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) tipped up 1.3%.
Woodside (ASX:WDS) was also on the up, climbing 0.95%. Santos (ASX:STO) added 0.93% and Ampol (ASX:ALD) 1.65%.
The ASX 200 climbed just 14.5 points or 0.17%, with five of 11 sectors in the green.
Breadth was weak too, with just 101 of 200 companies rising and 88 on the slide.
ASX Movers and Shakers
Two James Hardie (ASX:JHX) directors bought up a total of just over 32,000 shares via on-market trades, increasing their stake in the company.
JHX dipped 0.94% by end of trade despite the money-where-your-mouth-is action from management.
NextDC (ASX:NXT) dipped 1.31% despite locking in a suite of new customer contracts, increasing its data centre utilisation by 29% since the end of June. NXT’s forward order book is also showing strong signs of growth, up 53%.
The data centre stock should have been benefiting from some softened rhetoric from the Australian government.
Canberra has agreed to pause ‘mandatory guardrails’ on AI in its National AI Planreleased this morning.
Instead, the government says it will use existing legal frameworks and regulator expertise to regulate AI in the short-term.
The dovish approach boosted most data centre-related stocks intraday, but the majority have since given up any gains. The exception was Goodman Group (ASX:GMG), up 0.65%.
ASX Leaders
Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Last | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACS | Accent Resources NL | 0.013 | 117% | 203600 | $2,937,224 |
| A1G | African Gold Ltd. | 0.5175 | 64% | 13391621 | $167,966,811 |
| RBRDA | RBR Group Ltd | 0.015 | 36% | 266661 | $1,261,804 |
| EDU | EDU Holdings Limited | 0.8225 | 36% | 4462886 | $87,146,376 |
| MRQ | Mrg Metals Limited | 0.004 | 33% | 426296 | $8,179,556 |
| BOC | Bougainville Copper | 0.79 | 30% | 251385 | $244,648,125 |
| GR8 | Great Dirt Resources | 0.205 | 28% | 195733 | $5,988,002 |
| AOK | Australian Oil. | 0.0025 | 25% | 50000 | $2,504,457 |
| AYT | Austin Metals Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 22029270 | $6,336,765 |
| PGY | Pilot Energy Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 9202800 | $8,634,640 |
| PIL | Peppermint Inv Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 10198677 | $10,036,083 |
| RLG | Roolife Group Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 44270307 | $7,513,982 |
| WLD | Wellard Limited | 0.016 | 23% | 226689 | $6,906,254 |
| YUG | Yugo Metals Ltd | 0.065 | 23% | 2173392 | $15,722,862 |
| NNL | Nordicresourcesltd | 0.195 | 22% | 1825685 | $60,167,675 |
| BDG | Black Dragon Gold | 0.075 | 21% | 3787082 | $24,765,078 |
| ERA | Energy Resources | 0.003 | 20% | 14657183 | $1,013,490,602 |
| VRC | Volt Resources Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 1468672 | $24,866,747 |
| ALR | Altairminerals | 0.025 | 19% | 27598498 | $125,426,041 |
| PIQ | Proteomics Int Lab | 0.47 | 18% | 3401466 | $65,492,743 |
| PLC | Premier1 Lithium Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 98000 | $4,813,927 |
| PRM | Prominence Energy | 0.0035 | 17% | 330029 | $2,667,529 |
| RGL | Riversgold | 0.007 | 17% | 3562202 | $12,502,276 |
| 8CO | 8Common Limited | 0.029 | 16% | 170179 | $5,602,373 |
| PLG | Pearlgullironlimited | 0.023 | 15% | 29639 | $4,090,836 |
In the news…
Austin Metals (ASX:AYT) has welcomed industry veteran Michael Moore as managing director, bringing with him more than 20 years’ operational and executive management experience across Australia, Indonesia, West Africa and Europe.
He’ll be leading efforts to explore the Austin gold project, leveraging a comprehensive geological review to direct commercial development strategies. Read more about it here.
RooLife Group (ASX:RLG) sold more than $1 million worth of RLG coffee in China in the month of November. The company has been enjoying strong demand across major online platforms including JD.com, Tmall and Douyin, with similar offline and retail growth.
It’s a swift turn around considering RLG launched its coffee brand in China only 2 months ago, late in August. China’s appetite for the beans is also expanding rapidly, up 21% per year since 2011.
Altair Minerals (ASX:ALR) has kicked off trench sampling at its Great Oko gold project’s South Oko prospect ahead of schedule, aggressively advancing toward drilling.
ALR will dig 4 trenches over about 3 kilometres, covering two soil anomalies. A second round involve another five kilometres of trench sampling, covering high priority anomalies, once ALR can process pending soil and auger results.
ASX Laggards
Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OVT | Ovanti Limited | 0.0055 | -21% | 88976737 | $38,610,528 |
| HWK | Hawk Resources. | 0.027 | -18% | 1718209 | $11,175,839 |
| GTE | Great Western Exp. | 0.015 | -17% | 1 | $10,219,643 |
| CYQ | Cycliq Group Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 666356 | $2,763,100 |
| EMT | Emetals Limited | 0.005 | -17% | 2192105 | $5,100,000 |
| IPT | Impact Minerals | 0.005 | -17% | 1068984 | $28,464,595 |
| IBX | Imagion Biosys Ltd | 0.022 | -15% | 5146537 | $12,171,686 |
| RLT | Renergen Limited | 0.71 | -14% | 2000 | $25,170,560 |
| OLI | Oliver'S Real Food | 0.009 | -14% | 606868 | $5,677,685 |
| EE1 | Earths Energy Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 2543050 | $3,709,750 |
| CAN | Cann Group Ltd | 0.0095 | -14% | 37415682 | $10,534,519 |
| FAL | Falconmetalsltd | 0.545 | -13% | 1552991 | $133,966,367 |
| LPE | Locality Planning | 0.091 | -13% | 755681 | $19,026,620 |
| HYD | Hydrix Limited | 0.013 | -13% | 800000 | $4,091,533 |
| SP3 | Specturltd | 0.026 | -13% | 768798 | $11,807,004 |
| TNC | True North Copper | 0.55 | -13% | 509506 | $80,251,156 |
| FAU | First Au Ltd | 0.007 | -13% | 16407926 | $20,971,878 |
| FRX | Flexiroam Limited | 0.014 | -13% | 929792 | $24,278,378 |
| MSG | Mcs Services Limited | 0.007 | -13% | 419744 | $1,584,797 |
| PER | Percheron | 0.007 | -13% | 263795 | $8,699,501 |
| FRM | Farm Pride Foods | 0.21 | -13% | 75131 | $55,389,901 |
| ZIP | ZIP Co Ltd.. | 2.91 | -12% | 31129271 | $4,229,423,468 |
| MVL | Marvel Gold Limited | 0.015 | -12% | 1723278 | $24,130,804 |
| RML | Resolution Minerals | 0.06 | -12% | 64293743 | $127,350,599 |
| ORP | Orpheus Uranium Ltd | 0.045 | -12% | 67269 | $14,366,553 |
In Case You Missed It
Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY)has transitioned its geneType laboratory to the updated ISO 15189:2022 international standard following a NATA reassessment audit.
Investigator Silver (ASX:IVR), newly rebranded, is fully leveraged to a rocketing silver price from a large collection of Australian argentum.
Strong results from the start of Ausgold’s (ASX:AUC) 44,000m drill program are reinforcing the gold growth runway at Katanning.
Astral Resources (ASX:AAR) has hit wide, high-grade gold zones in the starter pit of its Mandilla project, building confidence ahead of a 2026 DFS.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) has processed the largest parcel of ore from its Laverton underground mines of 83,000t at 2.84g/t to recover 6300oz of gold.
Airtasker (ASX:ART) has surpassed $1 billion in completed task GMV, with a $300 stump-grinding job marking its five-millionth Australian task.
PTR Minerals (ASX:PTR) raises $12m at 25c per share to fund development of Rosewood titanium project in South Australia.
Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) has identified several compelling copper targets during modelling of historical exploration data from the Cucho project in Peru.
All wells in American Uranium’s (ASX:AMU) completed hydrogeological testing program demonstrated sustained flows and minimal aquifer drawdown.
Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) has defined an intrusion-related gold system over a strike length of ~600m at Golden Gate North prospect in the US.
Trading halts
Core Energy Minerals (ASX:CR3)– cap raise
FireFly Metals (ASX:FFM) – cap raise
HitIQ (ASX:HIQ) – cap raise
IPB Petroleum (ASX:IPB) – cap raise and acquisition talks
L1 Global Long Short Fund (ASX:PMC) – entitlement offer
Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX) – funding initiative
Bubalus Resources (ASX:BUS) – cap raise
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Austin Metals is a Stockhead advertiser, it 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 inches higher on resources and energy gains as info tech slumps
