ASX January winners: ASX reached record high but February off to a rocky start

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 5% in January to reach a new record high with AusQuest topping the winners list up  388% with discovery of a large-scale Peruvian copper prospect.

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• The S&P/ASX 200 rose 5% in January to reach a new record high

• Utilities was the only sector to fall in January with financials the top performer

• AusQuest tops January winners up 388% with discovery of a large-scale Peruvian copper prospect

While US President Donald Trump's tariffs policy have hit the ASX hard at the start of February, global equities had a strong start to the new year, with Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rising by 5% to reach a new record high in January, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI).

VanEck head of investments and capital markets Russel Chesler told Stockhead January was a positive month for Australian equities, driven by the financial sector, which was buoyed by US bank highlighting stronger-than-expected earnings reports and increased M&A activity.

He said international equities also performed well, albeit with a softer return of 2.74% with the fallout from China's artificial intelligence play DeepSeek significantly impacting US megatech, with Nvidia notably plummeting 17% in a single day.

"Conversely, the telecommunications sector emerged as the best performer, benefiting from the potential acceleration in AI activity," he said.

Bitcoin surged to a new all-time high, surpassing US$109,000 on the day of Trump's inauguration.

"This spike was driven by optimism in the crypto market as Trump's administration was perceived as highly pro-crypto.

"He signed the first-ever cryptocurrency executive order, which included the creation of a Crypto Task Force, regulatory clarity, and the prohibition of central bank digital currencies.

Bitcoin has since retreated to below the US$100k mark following the Trump administration's recent trade tariff announcements. At the time of writing, BTC is holding steady just above US$95k. The broader crypto market, however, has been comparatively pulverised on a blood-spattered Monday for digital assets.

"Today's market movements, following President Trump's implementation of tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, along with Canada's retaliatory measures, suggest that we may experience more frequent bouts of market volatility under the Trump administration," Chesler said.

"Additionally, the inflationary impact of these tariffs could limit the pace of forecasted rate cuts.

"Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on European imports, although a specific timeline has yet to be established and until we gain more certainty, investment markets may face a turbulent period."

Source: S&P DJI

Financials among the gainers, utilities drop

Ten out of 11 sectors in the S&P/ASX 200 reported gains, with consumer discretionary leading the gainers up 7% followed by financials, rising 6%.

Utilities was the only sector that remained in the red, falling 2.4% in January.

Source S&P DJI

Momentum tops equity factors again, bonds positive

Australian bonds ended the month on a positive note, with short-dated government bond yields edging lower and credit spreads tightening.

"Positive sentiment was influenced by a weaker-than-expected Q4 inflation print, which bolstered market expectations for a rate cut in February," Chesler said.

S&P DJI said among factor indices, S&P momentum once again led the pack with a 7% gain, while enhanced value and low volatility lagged.

Equity volatility declined modestly in January, as indicated by the VIX and S&P/ASX 200 VIX – known as the fear index.

However, S&P DJI noted the options market was anticipating a wide stock dispersion, with the CBOE S&P 500 Dispersion Index briefly soaring over 37, its highest level since its launch in September 2023.

Source: S&P DJI

The 50 best performing ASX stocks in January

CODE	COMPANY	LAST SHARE PRICE	DECEMBER RETURN %	MARKET CAP
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.039	388%	$44,067,453
WLD	Wellard Limited	0.145	142%	$77,031,295
REM	Remsense Technologies	0.052	126%	$8,624,704
C1X	Cosmos Exploration	0.068	119%	$5,675,729
FGR	First Graphene Ltd	0.058	115%	$40,599,391
WGR	Western Gold Resources	0.068	113%	$11,669,144
3DP	Pointerra Limited	0.084	110%	$67,626,451
KNB	Koonenberry Gold	0.025	108%	$21,857,187
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.002	100%	$4,800,767
AX8	Accelerate Resources	0.013	86%	$8,082,801
HCT	Holista CollTech Ltd	0.024	85%	$6,858,401
SMX	Strata Minerals	0.035	75%	$6,678,531
GLL	Galilee Energy Ltd	0.012	71%	$6,686,315
AYA	Artrya	0.905	71%	$82,789,135
BXN	Bioxyne Ltd	0.044	69%	$90,166,064
LYN	Lycaon Resources	0.15	67%	$7,947,723
MSG	MCS Services Limited	0.005	67%	$990,498
TMX	Terrain Minerals	0.005	67%	$9,053,477
MVP	Medical Developments	0.665	64%	$74,917,785
ETM	Energy Transition	0.064	64%	$98,957,355
GDM	Great Divide Mining	0.375	63%	$10,400,083
MEU	Marmota Limited	0.063	62%	$68,454,436
EBR	EBR Systems	1.65	61%	$612,275,730
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.004	60%	$9,507,891
AGD	Austral Gold	0.035	59%	$21,430,897
VTX	Vertex Minerals	0.325	57%	$59,441,958
FTZ	Fertoz Ltd	0.039	56%	$11,561,961
PAR	Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals	0.585	56%	$227,815,733
ESR	Estrella Resources	0.031	55%	$58,932,195
HYD	Hydrix Limited	0.017	55%	$4,637,070
5GG	Pentanet	0.046	53%	$19,925,896
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.003	50%	$6,095,169
ASV	Asset Vision Co i	0.03	50%	$22,180,847
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.0015	50%	$3,253,779
MSI	Multistack International	0.006	50%	$817,824
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.003	50%	$8,894,612
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.012	50%	$30,625,323
ATH	Alterity Therapeutics	0.012	50%	$63,845,176
CRI	Critica	0.018	50%	$48,392,075
ESK	Etherstack PLC	0.33	50%	$43,516,732
GCM	Green Critical Minerals	0.021	50%	$40,410,369
HMY	Harmoney Corp Ltd	0.545	49%	$55,570,460
EMN	Euro Manganese	0.043	48%	$9,031,677
SPN	Sparc Tech Ltd	0.235	47%	$22,530,143
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.016	45%	$4,831,076
EG1	Evergreen Lithium	0.087	45%	$4,892,010
PKD	Parkd Ltd	0.029	45%	$3,016,403
ASO	Aston Minerals Ltd	0.013	44%	$16,835,835
HVY	Heavy Minerals	0.165	43%	$11,062,193
SIO	Simonds Grp Ltd	0.2	43%	$71,981,290

AusQuest (ASX:AQD)  was the top performer in January, up 388%  after finding a potentially large-scale Peruvian copper prospect.

Maiden drilling uncovered broad zones of visible copper mineralisation – oxides and sulphides – in seven of the eight holes for 3000m.

The best hit of two for which assays have been returned included 348m at 0.26% Cu and 0.06ppm gold. Assay results from the remaining six drill holes are expected by early February.

Agribusiness firm Wellard (ASX:WLD) rose 142% in January after inking a deal to sell its last livestock vessel, the M/V Ocean Drover, for US$50 million. The buyer is Meteors Shipping, a Turkish agribusiness Wellard has worked with before. After the sale, Wellard said it plans to wind down its ship operations.

RemSense Technologies (ASX:REM) rose 126% in January after announcing a solid Q2 FY25, including positive cash flow with $431K in the bank.

Customer receipts shot up 78% from the previous quarter to $1.18m, plus another $1.08m came in after the quarter ended. RemSense said it nailed multiple global contracts in the quarter, all on time and budget, including a subscription renewal from Newmont for its Virtualplant platform.

Medical Developments International (ASX:MVP) rose 64% after also reporting a solid quarter, with operating cashflow improving.  The company said its lead drug Penthrox continued to grow in the Australian hospital sector. Revenue for Q2 FY25 was $10.9m, up $1.8m from the previous quarter, and $4.9m higher for the first half of FY25.

The 50 worst performing ASX stocks in January

CODE	COMPANY	LAST SHARE PRICE	DECEMBER RETURN %	MARKET CAP
TNC	True North Copper	0.37	-88%	$46,560,436
PEB	Pacific Edge	0.056	-59%	$45,467,295
5EA	5E Advanced	0.065	-50%	$21,923,840
CLG	Close Loop	0.12	-49%	$63,821,984
PLY	Playside Studios	0.22	-46%	$90,028,870
FRX	Flexiroam Limited	0.005	-45%	$3,928,219
ROG	Red Sky Energy	0.006	-45%	$32,533,363
IRX	Inhalerx Limited	0.02	-43%	$4,268,964
MNC	Merino and Co	0.17	-41%	$9,023,017
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.029	-41%	$2,877,620
BGE	Bridge SaaS	0.03	-40%	$5,995,776
CRB	Carbine Resources	0.003	-40%	$1,655,213
RLL	Rapid Lithium Ltd	0.003	-40%	$2,347,334
BDT	BirdDog Technologies	0.038	-38%	$6,136,469
RIL	Redivium Limited	0.0025	-38%	$13,609,422
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.0025	-38%	$8,419,651
WBT	Weebit Nano Ltd	2.27	-37%	$480,863,526
SGR	The Star Enterrtainment	0.12	-37%	$344,241,705
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.007	-36%	$24,156,240
BDM	Burgundy D Mines Ltd	0.057	-36%	$81,015,940
AKG	Academies Aus Grp	0.09	-36%	$11,935,302
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.18	-36%	$12,664,020
IBX	Imagion Biosys Ltd	0.015	-35%	$3,020,121
IND	Industrial Minerals	0.105	-34%	$8,433,863
UCM	Uscom Limited	0.021	-34%	$5,260,017
4DS	4Ds Memory Limited	0.033	-34%	$63,235,019
SPG	SPC Global Holdings	0.73	-34%	$140,876,774
AXE	Archer Materials	0.385	-34%	$98,116,100
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.002	-33%	$4,546,558
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.003	-33%	$2,059,115
BP8	BPH Global	0.002	-33%	$1,449,924
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.002	-33%	$11,448,058
JAY	Jayride Group	0.002	-33%	$477,158
LEG	Legend Mining	0.008	-33%	$23,275,817
WOA	Wide Open Agricultur	0.006	-33%	$3,202,120
EQR	EQ Resources	0.028	-33%	$65,380,909
OCT	Octava Minerals	0.087	-33%	$5,307,810
MIO	Macarthur Minerals	0.031	-33%	$6,189,631
HTG	Harvest Tech Group	0.015	-32%	$13,290,734
A11	Atlantic Lithium	0.23	-31%	$159,423,882
T3D	333D Limited	0.009	-31%	$1,585,651
NVQ	Noviqtech Limited	0.08	-30%	$18,421,383
MRZ	Mont Royal Resources	0.03	-30%	$2,550,894
SNX	Sierra Nevada Gold	0.03	-30%	$4,899,505
AMS	Atomos	0.007	-30%	$8,505,129
BLZ	Blaze Minerals Ltd	0.0035	-30%	$5,484,317
LMG	Latrobe Magnesium	0.014	-30%	$32,879,523
AVH	Avita Medical	2.99	-30%	$205,540,090
EZZ	EZZ Life Science	2.16	-30%	$101,894,112
NXL	Nuix Limited	4.49	-29%	$1,415,538,657

Originally published as ASX January winners: ASX reached record high but February off to a rocky start