Lunch Wrap: ASX pops, IDP Education erases 40pc of market cap, Eclipse Metals doubles

The ASX opened strong as energy stocks rode an oil surge and gold jumped on fear. Wage hikes are also finally outpacing inflation.

ASX pops higher on Tuesday. Picture via Getty Images

• ASX lifts as oil pops and wages outpace inflation

• Eclipse Metals doubles on rare earth news

• IDP Education craters 40pc, Eclipse Metals doubles

The ASX 200 was up 0.6% on Tuesday morning as banks, energy and miners led a mostly green board.

Not bad, considering we’re coming off a fresh flare-up in Trump-Xi tariff tension.

Overnight, US stocks took a shaky start in stride. The S&P 500 closed up 0.4%, Nasdaq rose 0.7%.

There was mud-slinging between Washington and Beijing, along with talk of a potential call between Trump and Xi this week to smooth things over; but let’s not hold our breath.

Crude oil prices surged as wildfires in Canada knocked out an estimated 7% of the country's oil production.

That news has boosted local energy players this morning. Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) shot up 1.5%.

Gold also rallied hard, up 3%, on good old-fashioned fear.

The Aussie dollar found some swagger, too, climbing to almost US65c as the greenback weakened on trade nerves.

Back to the ASX, where IDP Education (ASX:IEL) was the biggest large cap mover this morning. Not in a good way.

The stock faceplanted with a 44% dip after warning that global student numbers are drying up fast – up to 30% less placements this year.

Language testing volumes are also expected to drop nearly 20%. The stock’s now at its lowest level since 2016, and let’s just say the market didn’t take the news well.

This is where things stood at around lunch time, AEST:

Source: Market Index

Still in the large caps space, Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE)was down 0.3% after trimming its full-year earnings outlook slightly to $770m (down from $780m).

The Penfolds maker blamed lower-than-expected shipments, and the sudden exit of a key distributor in California.

And, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises (ASX:DMP) slipped 3% as it reshuffled leadership in Japan to try and get its operations back on track.

Wages go up; RBA plays it safe

Meanwhile, the Fair Work Commission is lifting minimum and award wages by 3.5% starting July 1. That takes the national minimum to just under $948 a week, or $24.95 an hour.

This is the first time in years that the increase has outpaced inflation (currently at 2.4%), which sounds like great news for workers.

But there’s a catch, experts said. It could add heat to consumer spending at a time when the RBA is trying to cool inflation down.

Speaking of the RBA, the May meeting minutes were released today, and the message is: "We could’ve cut rates more, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves."

The central bank said it went with 25 basis points, and not a bigger cut, because that level struck the right balance between caution and predictability.

The minutes also suggested that Trump’s tariffs haven’t really dented Australia just yet, and the board figured it would be riskier to overdo the cut now, and then have to slam on the brakes later.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for June 3 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
EPM	Eclipse Metals	0.012	140%	44,462,844	$14,329,095
VAR	Variscan Mines Ltd	0.007	40%	70,007	$3,914,289
BMO	Bastion Minerals	0.002	33%	50,750	$1,355,441
BYH	Bryah Resources Ltd	0.014	27%	24,733,813	$9,569,489
NC1	Nico Resources	0.092	26%	242,015	$8,008,142
WCE	West Coast Silver	0.078	26%	2,882,262	$16,127,501
ION	Iondrive Limited	0.025	25%	9,792,040	$23,656,727
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.005	25%	1,133,878	$16,360,874
ERA	Energy Resources	0.003	25%	2,577,920	$810,792,482
EVR	Ev Resources Ltd	0.005	25%	423,614	$7,943,347
MEM	Memphasys Ltd	0.005	25%	499,000	$7,934,392
WYX	Western Yilgarn NL	0.033	22%	113,076	$3,714,149
FTL	Firetail Resources	0.091	21%	1,997,393	$28,502,098
MPW	Metal Powdworks Ltd	1.120	20%	274,652	$94,822,106
AN1	Anagenics Limited	0.006	20%	100,000	$2,481,602
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.003	20%	439,921	$7,051,062
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.003	20%	2,700,000	$5,429,819
SLS	Solsticeminerals	0.245	20%	1,145,637	$21,305,777
PEB	Pacific Edge	0.089	19%	18,968	$60,893,698
FXG	Felix Gold Limited	0.160	19%	3,371,970	$55,477,952
ALM	Alma Metals Ltd	0.004	17%	300,000	$4,759,036
FGH	Foresta Group	0.007	17%	68,000	$15,917,439
RNX	Renegade Exploration	0.004	17%	3,510,002	$3,865,090
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.004	17%	20,000	$3,308,186

Eclipse Metals (ASX:EPM) unveiled a massive 89 million tonne rare earths resource at its Grønnedal project in southwest Greenland. The updated estimate shows grades averaging over 6,300ppm TREO, including high-value magnet metals like neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium – key ingredients for EVs and wind turbines. That puts it among the highest-grade rare earth deposits in the world. This new figure is more than 70 times bigger than the previous estimate, and the mineralisation still looks to extend in every direction, said EPM.

Western Yilgarn (ASX:WYX) has snapped up the Cardea 3 Bauxite Project in WA’s Darling Range, just 17km from its big Julimar West deposit. It paid a modest $5k upfront, and will tip in more cash and shares once the exploration licence is granted. Previous drilling at Cardea 3 shows high-grade bauxite, with standout results like 7.5m at over 48% total alumina and low reactive silica.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for June 3 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
OB1	Orbminco Limited	0.001	-50%	81,733	$4,795,136
IEL	Idp Education Ltd	4.430	-41%	12,916,496	$2,079,171,496
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.001	-33%	1	$4,880,668
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.002	-33%	7,374,999	$8,380,545
RCM	Rapid Critical	0.002	-33%	7,719,243	$3,734,834
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.002	-33%	1,372,063	$17,685,201
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.105	-28%	62,441,707	$414,441,555
DGR	DGR Global Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,225,000	$4,174,784
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.003	-25%	492,539	$1,406,811
RAN	Range International	0.002	-25%	4,050	$1,878,581
WGR	Western Gold	0.051	-23%	1,376,233	$14,149,167
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.022	-21%	5,330,601	$20,564,694
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.002	-20%	2,693,864	$7,937,639
AJL	AJ Lucas Group	0.005	-17%	7,861	$8,254,378
EAT	Entertainment	0.005	-17%	151,516	$7,852,716
FBR	FBR Ltd	0.005	-17%	736,437	$34,136,713
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.003	-17%	2,000,011	$6,828,269
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.003	-17%	713,575	$6,267,702
MKL	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.011	-15%	12,021	$6,319,842
OSLDA	Oncosil Medical	1.020	-15%	7,725	$13,819,740
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	910,604	$11,196,728
SP8	Streamplay Studio	0.006	-14%	277,925	$8,969,552
EXT	Excite Technology	0.010	-14%	1,372,089	$22,799,061

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Titanium Sands (ASX:TSL) has finalised a corporate funding solution for the Mannar heavy mineral project, whereby CPS Capital Group will provide up to $600,000 in loan funding in two tranches. The funding will be used to finalise environmental studies, advance an industrial mining licence for the project, and for general working capital.

ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) has tapped David Gilbert as non-executive director, replacing John Begg as he steps down from the board of directors. Gilbert has held senior positions in companies based in Austria and Romania, locations highly relevant to ADX’s operations as the company holds projects in both countries.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Titanium Sands and ADX Energy 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.

Originally published as Lunch Wrap: ASX pops, IDP Education erases 40pc of market cap, Eclipse Metals doubles