Closing Bell: ASX dips on profit taking; Aussie biotechs turn heads with big FDA wins
The ASX 200 ticked down just 9 points in trade as investors sold down shares to realise profits, supported by gains in health and materials.
ASX down 9 points as AI jitters and profit taking set in
Healthcare, materials sectors limit losses with some solid gains
PainChek and Neurotech grab headlines with FDA wins; Dimerix also gains on strong news
Glencore Mt Isa smelter bailed out by joint government package
Investors cash out on ASX gains
After gaining more than 1% over the past five trading days the ASX has dipped marginally, falling 9 points or 0.1%.
Just a smidge over 1% away from all-time highs, it’s a sure sign of profit taking with traders cashing in some hard-won gains.
Tech stocks are firmly in the red after Amazon’s Bezos admitted AI stocks were very much in an ‘industrial bubble’ where every idea was getting cash thrown at it, good or bad.
Despite acknowledging there’s a fundamental disconnect between value and investment, the billionaire insisted AI is ‘real’ and will bring tangible benefits to society.
Overall, the market closed out the day with seven sectors down and four on the up.
Fresh gold highs above US$4000
Gold futures hit another high, shooting all the way up to US$4052.22 an ounce as the psychological 4000-barrier was well and truly overcome.
Unfortunately for most of our larger gold miners, investor expectations are already very high. The fresh futures peak didn’t move the needle much.
Smaller stocks were still able to capitalise, though.
Up-and-coming gold miner Minerals 260 (ASX:MI6) gained 10.91% on hitting high-grade gold in resource upgrade drilling at the Bullabulling gold project.
MI6 is drilling 110,000 metres with the goal of producing two distinct resource estimate upgrades by next year.
Antipa Minerals (ASX:AZY) also added 9.26% and Turaco Gold (ASX:TCG) 7.53%.
Over in healthcare, Oceania Healthcare (ASX:OCA) jumped 16.36% after laying out a clear roadmap all the way to financial year 2031.
The biotech will look to strengthen its balance sheet, boost operational performance and scale its aged care and retirement village portfolio across New Zealand over the next few years.
Aussie biotechs turn heads on big news
Biotech PainChek (ASX:PCK) added 3.75% today, which was a fair effort on an unspectacular day for the ASX across the board.
It was PainChek's news that turned heads, however, after the company secured landmark US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) De Novo clearance for its new digital pain assessment device – the first of its kind in the world.
The green light opens up a market of 3 million nursing home beds, supporting care givers in detecting pain in those who find it difficult to communicate, such as patients suffering from dementia.
The FDA created a new product code “SGB” to classify the technology, opening a US$100 million per year initial addressable market. With partnerships already in place with PointClickCare and Eldermark, covering about 60% of the US and Canadian aged care market, PainChek is now positioned to launch commercial sales in the near term.
The announcement points to an excellent US regulatory and reimbursement landscape for pain management, expanding PainChek’s total addressable market to as much as US$582 million when hospitals and home care are included.
The clearance also provides a streamlined path for expansion into hospitals and home care, and sets the stage for faster approvals in markets such as Japan’s and Europe’s.
Meanwhile Neurotech International (ASX:NTI) has passed an important regulatory milestone with the FDA granting Rare Paediatric Disease Designation for its lead drug candidate NTI164 for the treatment of Rett syndrome. NTI shares moved up 5.25% on the news.
And … Dimerix (ASX:DXB) jumped 6.67% after gleaning valuable data from a data analysis by PARASOL that could support an accelerated approval application for DXB’s ACTION3 study.
At this stage, DXB is going back to the FDA with its new findings, asking for study endpoints based on its new data before updating its ACTION3 clinical study protocols.
Government steps in to keep smelter open
Glencore’s Mount Isa copper smelter and Townsville refinery will live to smelt another ingot, after Federal and Queensland governments stepped in to stop the operation’s shut down.
The government has agreed to go 50/50 on a $600 million funding package, well short of the 10-year, $2 billion support package Glencore was campaigning for.
“We support the Australian and Queensland governments’ push to develop policies which enable critical metals processing to continue in Australia, backed by a mining sector that makes a significant contribution to the economy and supported by affordable and reliable energy,” Glencore Metals Australia interim COO Troy Wilson said in response to the government deal.
"It is our hope that conditions improve over the next three years to a point where government assistance is no longer necessary."
The struggling copper smelter will be furnished with a payment of $200 million in 2026 and 2027, with a third $200 million package hung on a sustainability and transformation study.
In other words, the government is happy to step in – for now – but future funding will require Glencore to create a more economically sustainable business model for its smelter.
Given copper prices are at 16-month highs near US$10,761 per tonne and demand from renewable energy and EV applications is only growing, that might not be as difficult as it once was.
“Glencore has a crucial role to play in the future of the smelter and an obligation to the community and their workers, and the government has high expectations that they will continue to collaborate effectively,” Federal Minister for Industry Tim Ayres said.
Glencore says it has lined up $2.5 billion in planned or proposed capital investment across the Mt Isa region, including investment in the George Fisher Mine and potential development of the Black Star Open Cut project.
ASX Leaders
Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Last | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XST | Xstate Resources | 0.058 | 176% | 1.34E+08 | $5,278,998 |
| GG1 | Greengoldminerals | 0.32 | 60% | 730551 | $11,631,110 |
| FIN | FIN Resources Ltd | 0.007 | 40% | 2428875 | $3,474,442 |
| CBL | Control Bionics | 0.046 | 39% | 1350240 | $11,099,159 |
| CNJ | Conico Ltd | 0.008 | 33% | 1357142 | $1,632,874 |
| FGH | Foresta Group | 0.036 | 33% | 3400977 | $71,628,474 |
| MTB | Mount Burgess Mining | 0.017 | 31% | 11980428 | $5,533,298 |
| OLL | Openlearning | 0.032 | 28% | 4828015 | $12,070,199 |
| PNN | Power Minerals Ltd | 0.1625 | 25% | 21151875 | $22,311,524 |
| EQS | Equitystorygroupltd | 0.02 | 25% | 1376398 | $2,829,566 |
| QXR | Qx Resources Limited | 0.005 | 25% | 13627833 | $7,370,598 |
| RKB | Rokeby Resources Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 3782013 | $7,303,527 |
| RLC | Reedy Lagoon Corp. | 0.0025 | 25% | 1903825 | $1,553,413 |
| HIQ | Hitiq Limited | 0.022 | 22% | 1224977 | $8,726,984 |
| KPO | Kalina Power Limited | 0.017 | 21% | 36144937 | $41,061,940 |
| ALM | Alma Metals Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 4969796 | $9,286,186 |
| BYH | Bryah Resources Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 2627902 | $5,142,663 |
| CRB | Carbine Resources | 0.006 | 20% | 2834089 | $5,959,329 |
| TKL | Traka Resources | 0.003 | 20% | 3000000 | $6,055,348 |
| IVG | Invert Graphite Ltd | 0.037 | 19% | 141073 | $10,618,046 |
| CGO | CPT Global Limited | 0.1 | 19% | 850 | $3,519,379 |
| ICR | Intelicare Holdings | 0.025 | 19% | 459907 | $12,768,465 |
| HWK | Hawk Resources. | 0.02 | 18% | 1621330 | $4,605,801 |
| CYM | Cyprium Metals Ltd | 0.047 | 18% | 18119461 | $111,785,127 |
| RNU | Renascor Res Ltd | 0.076 | 17% | 14340916 | $165,305,033 |
In the news…
Xstate Resources (ASX:XST) has reached depths of more than 2400 metres for the Diona-1 well within ATP2077, hosted within the Surat-Bowen basin of Queensland.
The company hit an unexpected 180m zone of hydrocarbons in the well, which it will continue to drill down to target depths of about 2530m. Management says these early signs are strong, hinting at a potentially much larger resource than first anticipated.
Power Minerals (ASX:PNN) is snapping up the Gamma heavy rare earths project, just down the road from MP Minerals’ Mountain Pass Mine.
Gamma is prospective for rare earths, uranium and gold, with historical (non-JORC) exploration highlighting intersections like 30.33m at 0.37% uranium and rock chips up to 20,257ppm total rare earths. Read more about the acquisition here.
OpenLearning (ASX:OLL) has secured commitments to raise $2.6 million in a placement at 1.1c a share, essentially at parity with its last volume-weighted average price.
The fresh funding will support OLL’s expansion into new markets including the Philippines and Brazil, as well as developing new products for its AI-powered learning management system.
ASX Laggards
Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps):
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DTR | Dateline Resources | 0.475 | -25% | 68634289 | $2,146,001,753 |
| LNU | Linius Tech Limited | 0.0015 | -25% | 500000 | $14,254,387 |
| MTL | Mantle Minerals Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 17380733 | $14,466,230 |
| PAB | Patrys Limited | 0.0015 | -25% | 5000000 | $9,167,513 |
| IGN | Ignite Ltd | 1.09 | -24% | 58762 | $23,652,495 |
| ZNC | Zenith Minerals Ltd | 0.12 | -23% | 8325163 | $82,258,850 |
| CR9 | Corellares | 0.004 | -20% | 2185602 | $5,037,849 |
| CTN | Catalina Resources | 0.004 | -20% | 2460000 | $12,130,095 |
| MRQ | Mrg Metals Limited | 0.004 | -20% | 699250 | $13,632,593 |
| PLC | Premier1 Lithium Ltd | 0.008 | -20% | 10559731 | $3,680,606 |
| WEL | Winchester Energy | 0.002 | -20% | 6000000 | $3,407,547 |
| AIV | Activex Limited | 0.017 | -19% | 294166 | $4,525,554 |
| ENV | Enova Mining Limited | 0.009 | -18% | 10593722 | $17,369,315 |
| PFT | Pure Foods Tas Ltd | 0.036 | -18% | 1202687 | $6,178,727 |
| IFG | Infocusgroup Hldltd | 0.014 | -18% | 4603309 | $7,441,087 |
| SRL | Sunrise | 4.115 | -18% | 1247798 | $614,618,614 |
| GBE | Globe Metals &Mining | 0.06 | -17% | 280645 | $50,015,017 |
| AOK | Australian Oil. | 0.0025 | -17% | 2040045 | $3,183,849 |
| FCT | Firstwave Cloud Tech | 0.01 | -17% | 9422072 | $22,790,424 |
| NAE | New Age Exploration | 0.0025 | -17% | 158350 | $8,117,734 |
| VFX | Visionflex Group Ltd | 0.0025 | -17% | 500000 | $10,137,444 |
| NME | Nex Metals Explorat | 0.021 | -16% | 92331 | $8,382,057 |
| NFL | Norfolkmetalslimited | 0.175 | -15% | 537481 | $16,408,391 |
| BIT | Biotron Limited | 0.003 | -14% | 15775652 | $4,645,360 |
| CLG | Close Loop | 0.048 | -14% | 779744 | $29,783,592 |
In Case You Missed It
Ariana Resources (ASX:AA2) has ticked the final regulatory box at the Tavsan Heap-Leach Project in Türkiye, with operational permitting now complete and ore loading underway.
Ovanti (ASX:OVT) has raised $8 million in a placement led by chairman Daler Fayziev’s $3m investment, while its US BNPL business secures three-year NASCAR sponsorship with Speedway Motorsports.
Adelong Gold (ASX:ADG) has initiated a maiden drilling program at the Lauriston project, on the hunt for gold and antimony mineralisation.
LinQ Minerals (ASX:LNQ) returned up to 5m at 11.97g/t gold in its initial Gidginbung drilling at the historic Gilmore project in the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW.
As mentioned above (in case you missed it there, too), the US FDA has granted Rare Paediatric Disease Designation for Neurotech International’s (ASX:NTI) lead drug candidate NTI164 for the treatment of Rett syndrome.
Developing one of the country's hottest silver deposits, Maronan Metals (ASX:MMA) has secured $16 million from an institutional placement.
Western Gold Resources’ (ASX:WGR) grade control drilling has confirmed the continuity of gold mineralisation at the Eagle and Emu deposits.
Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY/OTCQB:LKYRF) has produced a high-grade concentrate of 68.1% antimony, exceeding marketable requirements and advancing US supply ambitions.
Altech Batteries (ASX:ATC) has offered sodium-nickel-chloride battery systems to replace existing lead-acid batteries used in Europe’s gas pipelines.
Gold producer Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM) achieved record gold sales, whilst increasing gold production at a time of record market prices.
Trading halts
Ardiden (ASX:ADV) – major gold acquisition and cap raise
DeSoto Resources (ASX:DSE) – cap raise
Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) – cap raise
Hiremii (ASX:HMI) – cap raise
Invion (ASX:IVX) – cap raise
Toubani Resources (ASX:TRE) – funding package for Kobada Gold project
Triangle Energy (Global) (ASX:TEG) – overseas permits announcement
Wellard (ASX:WLD) – delisting from ASX
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While PainChek and Power Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, 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.
