Lunch Wrap: ASX lights up as risk returns; Paladin rockets 25pc but gold sees heavy profit-taking

The ASX lit up on hopes of a China trade thaw, sending gold tumbling as risk came back on the menu.

ASX lights up on China trade thaw and Wall Street buzz. Pic: Getty Images

• ASX lights up on China trade thaw and Wall Street buzz

• Gold tanks as risk-on sentiment returns

• Paladin and Telix pop, gold miners cop it

The ASX came out swinging this morning, putting on 1.5% by lunch time amid fresh whispers the US-China trade tiff might be winding down.

Driving the risk-on mood was a private comment from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who reckons the current tariff standoff with China just isn’t sustainable.

He let slip at a JPMorgan investor summit that a de-escalation is likely on the cards, in the “very near” future.

“I do say China is going to be a slog in terms of the negotiations,” Bessent said, adding that “neither side thinks the status quo is sustainable.”

That little nugget of optimism lit a fire under Wall Street, where all three major indexes clocked more than 2% gains overnight.

Bessent’s remarks also sent gold prices down, and pushed the greenback a nudge higher.

President Trump, never one to miss a mic moment, echoed the vibe, saying a deal with China was on the way, and tariffs wouldn’t be anywhere close to current levels.

He even promised to “be very nice” to China and predicted Beijing would return the favour.

“We’re going to be very nice and they’re going to be very nice, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said.

And after sparking a bit of a selloff Monday with vague threats to fire Fed boss Jerome Powell and calling him “major loser”, Trump walked it back with a shrug.

“I have no intention of firing him. I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates.”

For markets hungry for a circuit breaker, that was enough.

Iron ore and oil prices got a boost, with traders hoping the worst of the China slowdown talk is behind us.

Back home on the ASX, investors piled into tech and energy stocks.

Not everyone had a good morning, though. Gold miners took a hiding as prices eased back from record highs.

After touching $US3500 an ounce for the first time, bullion dropped over 1% in Asian trade today, triggering some heavy profit-taking.

Source: MarketIndex

Source: MarketIndex

In large caps news, BHP (ASX:BHP) climbed 3% as rumours bubbled that CEO Mike Henry may be preparing to step aside, with a succession race quietly underway. BHP has not made any official announcement to this effect.

Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) also rose 3% despite production dipping by 4% in Q1 thanks to rough weather and unexpected outages at its key sites. But stronger output in the US helped cushion the blow, and on a year-on-year basis, both output and revenue were actually up.

In uranium, Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) was the standout. Its shares soared 25% after its Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia clocked a record quarter, pumping out over 745,000 pounds of uranium oxide despite copping a battering from wet weather.

Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) had a cracker morning too, jumping 11% thanks to a year-on-year 62% revenue lift in Q1, on the back of strong demand for its prostate cancer imaging drug.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for April 23 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
M2R	Miramar	0.004	100%	14,698,944	$1,993,647
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	50%	1,500,000	$3,253,779
RAN	Range International	0.003	50%	333,334	$1,878,581
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.011	38%	13,750	$4,565,454
ACS	Accent Resources NL	0.008	33%	60,000	$2,838,764
BNL	Blue Star Helium Ltd	0.008	33%	1,473,566	$16,169,312
RDS	Redstone Resources	0.004	33%	2,618,087	$2,776,135
CUS	Coppersearchlimited	0.022	29%	180,006	$2,017,456
RFA	Rare Foods Australia	0.009	29%	485,766	$1,903,883
GCM	Green Critical Min	0.012	28%	29,194,954	$17,655,105
KNI	Kunikolimited	0.175	25%	135,330	$12,169,398
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.005	25%	1,905,216	$12,314,111
TAR	Taruga Minerals	0.011	22%	1,330,000	$6,354,241
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	4.850	22%	5,257,867	$1,587,861,950
BMG	BMG Resources Ltd	0.012	20%	1,298,293	$8,383,972
JLL	Jindalee Lithium Ltd	0.285	19%	295,832	$17,662,044
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.039	18%	218,181	$3,718,048
AGE	Alligator Energy	0.028	17%	14,454,597	$92,966,384
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.007	17%	429,095	$3,448,673
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.007	17%	175,201	$27,691,293
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.004	17%	5,600,699	$6,267,702
TOE	Toro Energy Limited	0.225	15%	1,033,453	$23,454,960
AEE	Aura Energy	0.115	15%	781,040	$89,074,814
CU6	Clarity Pharma	2.055	14%	1,448,202	$580,039,660

Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY)reported a solid quarter, kicking big goals both in Vietnam and back home. It teamed up with local partner Thung Dung to push ahead with its banana waste-to-product tech, and a recent site visit confirmed the joint venture’s in good nick. Back in Australia, it’s powering through setup of its R&D hub in Adelaide, with early product tests looking promising. It’s also raised $200k to keep the commercialisation engine ticking over.

Blue Star Helium (ASX:BNL) has successfully drilled its Jackson 27 development well to total depth within the company’s broader Galactica helium project in Las Animas County, Colorado. The company confirmed gas presence, with the well flowing naturally both during drilling and at total depth, verified by wireline logs. Gas samples have been sent to the laboratory for analysis of helium and CO2 concentrations.

Redstone Resources (ASX:RDS) has kicked off diamond drilling at its Tollu copper deposit in WA’s West Musgrave. It’s punching down a 1,200m hole under the high-grade Tollu copper zone, hoping to hit a Voisey’s Bay-style copper-nickel jackpot hiding beneath. Previous drilling has already pulled up some promising copper hits, one even hit 18% copper over a metre.

Green Critical Minerals (ASX:GCM) has teamed up with Aussie data centre GreenSquareDC to work on cooling tech using its VHD Graphite. GreenSquareDC builds next-gen, AI-ready data centres, so this deal shows there’s serious real-world interest in GCM’s gear. GCM said this is a big step in its push to get its tech into the hands of big players across Australia, the US, and Europe.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for April 23 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.001	-33%	6,981,035	$43,400,718
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.004	-33%	583,050	$3,904,618
T3D	333D Limited	0.006	-25%	22,222	$1,409,468
NGX	Ngxlimited	0.100	-20%	73,985	$11,326,480
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.002	-20%	776,798	$4,159,399
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	-20%	58,227	$5,179,983
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.004	-20%	2,665	$10,512,849
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.002	-20%	5,000,000	$8,419,651
TRP	Tissue Repair	0.205	-18%	628,015	$15,116,211
CTT	Cettire	0.540	-18%	5,388,646	$249,711,034
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.005	-17%	5,315,165	$17,365,318
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.005	-17%	72,000	$6,495,472
REE	Rarex Limited	0.032	-16%	14,943,330	$30,432,142
8CO	8Common Limited	0.017	-15%	6,695	$4,481,898
IR1	Irismetals	0.135	-14%	300,698	$26,926,103
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.003	-14%	100,000	$7,442,287
CLA	Celsius Resource Ltd	0.006	-14%	1,907,211	$20,352,998
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.006	-14%	5,514,266	$4,984,714
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.006	-14%	3,226,541	$19,660,775
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	6,993	$11,196,728
W2V	Way2Vatltd	0.006	-14%	350,000	$6,538,001
OBM	Ora Banda Mining Ltd	1.030	-14%	5,855,173	$2,250,645,829
C1X	Cosmosexploration	0.074	-13%	13,378	$8,794,661
AGD	Austral Gold	0.061	-13%	95,141	$42,861,795

Online fashion retailer Cettire (ASX:CTT) slumped by 15% after reporting a bit of a mixed bag this quarter. It pulled in $260 million in sales, up just 1% on pcp, but it took a $4.7 million EBITDA hit, thanks in part to currency losses and heavy discounting. The company said demand’s been patchy across the luxury market, especially in the US, but it still grew its active customer base to around 696,000.

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This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.