Lunch Wrap: ASX swings sideways as gold bounces back; Fed call in focus

Markets have wobbled on Tuesday as Wall Street paused gains. ASX stocks are split between bright spots such as Vicinity and caution from WiseTech.

The ASX swung between wins and losses this morning. Picture via Getty Images

• ASX wobbles as financial and staple stocks slip

• Overnight, Wall Street stumbled with the Fed back in the hot seat

• Meanwhile SiteMinder shines but Sigma sinks and WiseTech warns

It's been a wobbly old day on the ASX so far, with the benchmark ASX 200 index swinging between gains and losses before flattening out by around lunchtime in the east.

Overnight, the US S&P 500 finally hit the brakes after a record nine-day run, dropping by 0.64%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also fell by 0.74%.

Wall Street traders had mixed signals. On one hand, Trump reckons a few trade deals might land this week, but he’s not picking up the phone to Xi.

Some reckon Trump’s got a limited window to ink trade deals before the damage becomes harder to reverse.

On the other hand, stronger-than-expected US services data cooled recession fears, but it also reignited talk of rising prices.

That puts the Federal Reserve front and centre again, with traders now betting the Fed will leave rates unchanged in its upcoming decision.

That announcement’s due first thing Thursday morning our time, but short-term yields have risen three days straight.

On the stock front, the news wasn’t fantastic, either.

Ford Motors has yanked its guidance, tech giant Palantir missed expectations, and the overall mood on Wall Street was just more twitchy than bullish.

Back home, investors tuned into updates flowing from the Macquarie conference.

Mining as well as property players were in form this morning.

Vicinity Centres (ASX:VCX) jumped 3% after saying it's tracking toward the top end of full-year guidance.

But there were losses in consumer staples. Endeavour Group (ASX:EDV) gave up 4% after flagging flat-to-modest retail sales ahead.

Energy stocks also eased back a bit, as Brent crude sank to as low as $US57 a barrel before bouncing back to US$60.

Meanwhile, gold bounced back more than 2% overnight, snapping its losing streak as jittery markets piled back into the shiny stuff ahead of the Fed’s big call this week.

Source: Market Index

Source: Market Index

In other large caps news, data centre stock NextDC (ASX:NXT) said its forward order book has more than doubled, its strongest result yet. Shares rallied 8%.

Pharma distributor Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG)dropped nearly 4%, dragging down the health sector, despite lifting earnings 36% in the first half, thanks mainly to its merger with Chemist Warehouse.

Hotel booking tech platform SiteMinder (ASX:SDR) said it’s expecting revenue to grow faster in the second half. That gave investors something to cheer about in the tech space. Shares rose 1%.

WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC), however, struck a more cautious tone.

Presenting at the Macquarie conference, WTC warned that geopolitical tension and fresh trade tariffs could bite in FY25.

The logistics software giant didn’t change its full-year guidance, but noted that global container volumes are tipped to fall by 1% this year. WTC shares slipped 2.5%.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 6 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.034	55%	165,867,081	$60,842,510
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.003	50%	190,000	$2,101,969
WCN	White Cliff Min Ltd	0.033	43%	150,113,733	$43,595,827
AN1	Anagenics Limited	0.008	33%	325,000	$2,977,922
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.004	33%	200,592	$8,104,644
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.004	33%	746,250	$5,697,666
AZL	Arizona Lithium Ltd	0.009	29%	37,093,560	$31,932,702
BGE	Bridgesaaslimited	0.019	27%	32,000	$2,997,888
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.005	25%	1,042,715	$2,825,612
KRR	King River Resources	0.010	25%	2,302,601	$12,225,766
WTM	Waratah Minerals Ltd	0.290	23%	4,473,099	$47,717,729
PRS	Prospech Limited	0.027	23%	8,588	$7,234,170
OD6	Od6Metalsltd	0.038	23%	316,311	$4,936,618
S66	Star Combo	0.140	22%	1,500	$15,534,543
SMM	Somerset Minerals	0.017	21%	19,919,156	$5,918,271
EVR	Ev Resources Ltd	0.006	20%	2,190,333	$9,929,183
WBE	Whitebark Energy	0.006	20%	407,246	$1,999,534
LKY	Locksleyresources	0.027	17%	3,063,052	$3,373,333
GCM	Green Critical Min	0.014	17%	12,879,491	$23,540,140
IPT	Impact Minerals	0.007	17%	5,387,410	$22,215,980
OSL	Oncosil Medical	0.004	17%	1,652,672	$13,819,740
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.004	17%	600,133	$6,267,702
C1X	Cosmosexploration	0.078	16%	12,820	$6,932,262
HAW	Hawthorn Resources	0.051	16%	405,694	$14,740,687

White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) has hit a very promising copper intercept at its Danvers project in Canada, drilling 175m at 2.5% copper from just 7.6m down. The hole ended in even higher grades, still open at depth. The company says it's one of the best copper hits globally in decades, and is planning more drilling to chase it further. More assays are on the way, with a maiden JORC resource in the works.

Waratah Minerals (ASX:WTM) fronted the RIU Resources Conference with a cracking pitch on its gold-copper hunt in NSW’s Lachlan Fold Belt, one of Australia’s hottest mineral districts. It’s sitting on a big district-scale land position at its Spur project, 100% owned, right near majors like Newmont and Gold Fields, with solid hits already in the bag including 11m at 10.8g/t gold and nearly 200m at 0.54% copper equivalent. Waratah reckons it’s only just getting started in what’s shaping up to be a prime gold-copper postcode.

Somerset Minerals (ASX:SMM) has just wrapped up the acquisition of the high-grade Coppermine Project in Nunavut, right next door to White Cliff’s monster copper hit at Danvers. It now controls a massive 1,200km² landholding packed with historical copper finds, including grades up to 45.4% copper, and is gearing up to launch its maiden drill campaign in just a couple of weeks. Early targets at Coronation are looking juicy, the company said, with reprocessed geophysics lighting up multiple anomalies, and old drill holes that ended in mineralisation.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 6 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
HCF	HGH High Conviction	0.024	-33%	86,865	$698,633
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.001	-33%	165,000	$9,862,021
BIT	Biotron Limited	0.002	-33%	70,000	$3,981,738
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.002	-33%	370,000	$6,172,342
RLL	Rapid Lithium Ltd	0.002	-33%	310,371	$3,734,834
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.002	-33%	15,181	$10,103,581
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.002	-33%	833,333	$17,685,201
IMI	Infinitymining	0.006	-25%	1,109,674	$3,384,126
SRJ	SRJ Technologies	0.013	-24%	500,000	$10,294,827
DYM	Dynamicmetalslimited	0.255	-23%	346,933	$16,197,832
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.006	-21%	530,244	$20,259,538
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.004	-20%	862,287	$15,867,318
DGR	DGR Global Ltd	0.004	-20%	256,000	$5,218,480
DTM	Dart Mining NL	0.004	-20%	30,915	$3,438,820
HLX	Helix Resources	0.002	-20%	300,000	$8,410,484
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.002	-20%	103,299	$6,109,090
OLI	Oliver'S Real Food	0.004	-20%	372,250	$2,703,660
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,257,263	$23,423,890
C29	C29Metalslimited	0.038	-17%	301,626	$8,012,659
SER	Strategic Energy	0.005	-17%	7	$4,026,200
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.005	-17%	318,260	$6,495,472
SKK	Stakk Limited	0.005	-17%	200,000	$12,450,478
8CO	8Common Limited	0.016	-16%	75,001	$4,257,803
MXO	Motio Ltd	0.032	-16%	253,082	$10,583,130

Originally published as Lunch Wrap: ASX swings sideways as gold bounces back; Fed call in focus