Lunch Wrap: ASX snuggles up to Wall Street high as ‘big beautiful bill’ passes

The ASX edged up at lunch as tech and retail took the lead, with Trump’s tariff threats and his big budget bill all in the mix.

Trump’s 'big beautiful bill' will be signed into law. Picture via Getty Images

• Tech and retailers jump this morning

• Trump teases tariff letters as "big beautiful bill" passes

• Cleanaway and Santos ink deals; Magellan shrugs off outflows

It’s lunchtime in the east and the local market is tucking into a modest rally. The benchmark ASX 200 is 0.15% stronger, eyeing that mid-week record.

Local traders took their cue from an abbreviated but exuberant session on Wall Street overnight, where traders clocked off at 1 pm for the Fourth of July holiday.

The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow still managed to bang out fresh records.

A “big, beautiful” US$3.4 trillion fiscal bill has now slid through the House. The US Senate passed it 51–50 (VP Vance casting the tie‑breaker), the House followed 218–214 last night, and Trump will sign it later tonight.

Trump also hinted at unilateral “reciprocal” tariffs if trading partners don’t play nice by July 9.

He threatened to start firing off letters, ‘maybe 10 a day’, spelling out who’s going to pay what to do business with the US.

Elsewhere in the commodities space, iron ore has clambered back over US$96/t in Singapore as Beijing vows to stamp out “disorderly” low-price steel competition.

Gold eased nearly 1% after a strong US jobs data overnight torpedoed immediate Fed-cut dreams, though bullion’s still up 25% year-to-date.

Back home on the ASX, the baton has been passed from miners to tech this morning.

Local software names shadowed the Nasdaq. Appen (ASX:APX) was up 8%, Life360 (ASX:360) by 3%.

RBA rate-cut rumours for next week put a spring in shoppers’ steps too. Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) and Myer (ASX:MYR)  jumped 1% each.

Source: Market Index

In the large caps news, Cleanaway (ASX:CWY) spiked 2% after the ACCC gave the nod to its $377m swoop on Contract Resources. Regulator Philip Williams said he didn’t see competition issues in industrial services.

Engineering contractor Monadelphous Group (ASX:MND) nudged 1.5% higher after locking in over $100 million worth of work with Technip Energies.

And, Santos (ASX:STO) inked a mid-term deal with QatarEnergy Trading for roughly half a million tonnes of LNG a year over two years. STO shares were down 0.3%.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 4 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.002	100%	105,995,646	$5,619,759
GLL	Galilee Energy Ltd	0.008	60%	1,794,993	$3,535,964
DY6	Dy6Metalsltd	0.210	35%	2,190,750	$11,541,688
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.002	33%	3,402,438	$1,966,820
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	33%	456,473	$7,254,899
WMG	Western Mines	0.250	25%	266,072	$19,357,669
MSG	Mcs Services Limited	0.005	25%	250,001	$792,399
TEM	Tempest Minerals	0.005	25%	100,589	$4,407,180
SLH	Silk Logistics	2.105	22%	590,694	$140,261,869
OKJ	Oakajee Corp Ltd	0.040	21%	12,200	$3,017,719
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.006	20%	2,541,951	$14,664,978
AUG	Augustus Minerals	0.032	19%	551,238	$4,588,554
CR1	Constellation Res	0.130	18%	2,800	$6,934,315
ICE	Icetana Limited	0.087	18%	1,021,675	$39,355,118
CVR	Cavalierresources	0.235	18%	175,056	$11,568,443
ATX	Amplia Therapeutics	0.275	17%	4,960,449	$91,168,877
3DP	Pointerra Limited	0.062	17%	1,670,193	$42,669,070
ENL	Enlitic Inc.	0.035	17%	1,715,848	$24,768,486
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.004	17%	496,875	$12,270,655
MGU	Magnum Mining & Exp	0.007	17%	1,000,000	$13,908,223
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.050	16%	27,063,376	$120,714,815
FCL	Fineos Corp Hold PLC	2.730	16%	215,651	$795,474,213
5GG	Pentanet	0.030	15%	821,149	$11,262,463
MAG	Magmatic Resrce Ltd	0.060	15%	2,399,751	$22,997,037

The ACCC said it won’t oppose DP World Australia’s proposed takeover of Silk Logistics Holdings (ASX:SLH), clearing a key hurdle for the deal. After digging into the details, the watchdog found the merger is unlikely to hurt competition, even if DP World gains control of Silk’s trucking and warehousing arm. So, for now, it’s game on, with final approvals still needed from FIRB, shareholders and the court.

Medical AI company Enlitic (ASX:ENL) said it’s now met the financial requirements under its MOU with GE HealthCare, after completing a $10 million capital raise in June. It has signed an Advanced Payment Agreement, unlocking a US$2 million upfront payment from GE and clearing the way for their strategic collaboration to move forward. Enlitic’s US arm Laitek is expected to deliver up to $46 million in data migration work over the next five years.

Mining-software outfit RPM Global (ASX:RUL) said a busy second half lifted its FY25 total contracted value to $100.8m, up 31%, with subscription licences surging. RUL has booked $69.1m in ARR and a record $200m non-cancellable backlog, 24 % higher than a year ago.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 4 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
HLX	Helix Resources	0.001	-50%	58,000	$6,728,387
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.001	-33%	109,654	$10,027,021
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.002	-33%	740,000	$9,525,167
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.005	-29%	1,029,310	$4,944,821
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	-25%	4,206,979	$6,507,557
RLC	Reedy Lagoon Corp.	0.002	-25%	152,677	$1,553,413
LKO	Lakes Blue Energy	0.750	-25%	682,656	$58,770,705
HPC	Thehydration	0.011	-21%	784,289	$5,408,213
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.004	-20%	350,001	$6,054,764
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.004	-20%	3,754,989	$17,069,268
AR9	Archtis Limited	0.215	-19%	1,971,854	$76,653,102
NHE	Nobleheliumlimited	0.029	-17%	665,136	$20,983,375
CDE	Codeifai Limited	0.044	-17%	7,147,484	$23,475,738
RPG	Raptis Group Limited	0.075	-17%	45,742	$31,561,637
ALM	Alma Metals Ltd	0.005	-17%	2,033,841	$11,104,423
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.005	-17%	77,904	$7,068,458
FBR	FBR Ltd	0.005	-17%	2,361,139	$34,136,713
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.006	-14%	111,904	$4,023,451
EMT	Emetals Limited	0.003	-14%	213,214	$2,975,000
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.006	-14%	39,046,423	$29,850,265
RC1	Redcastle Resources	0.007	-13%	910,000	$5,948,535
MDR	Medadvisor Limited	0.057	-12%	2,261,562	$40,611,029
CGR	Cgnresourceslimited	0.070	-11%	115,219	$7,171,477

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Drilling at  Nimy Resources’ (ASX:NIM) Mons project in WA has extended known gallium mineralisation to a 450m by 300m area after returning further high-grade intersections.

Canaccord Genuity has upgraded its price target for Ausgold (ASX:AUC) to $1.65 following a “compelling” DFS for its Katanning gold project.

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