Lunch Wrap: ASX slips as iron ore miners nurse a hangover; oil stocks surge

ASX sagged at lunch with miners down, oil up, Newmont shining, and Whitehaven on target.

The rally has stalled for iron ore mining stocks. Pic: Getty Images

• ASX slumps as oil stocks power up


• Miners wobble while Newmont shines


• Whitehaven hits targets, Maas caught up in corruption cloud

The ASX was dragging its feet on Friday, down 0.5% at lunch time in the eastern states as a murky Wall Street session cast a long shadow across the Aussie bourse.

The only sector doing any real heavy lifting was energy, which managed to fire up thanks to rising oil prices overnight.

Oil stocks caught a nice tailwind from a sharper-than-expected US crude inventory draw, and rumblings of Russia choking off gasoline exports to everyone except its inner circle of allies.

Add in whispers of a US-EU trade deal, and you’ve got a barrel full of bullish fuel.

Miners, however, were getting smacked. Iron ore futures barely moved, but it wasn’t enough to stop BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) giving up some of their previous days’ gains, down well over 1%.

Traders are fretting about seaborne supply catching up with demand, despite China’s slow-motion stimulus.

Gold miners were also caught in the downdraft.

As US Fed watchers bet on interest rates staying put, gold slid and took stocks like Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST) and Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) with it.

The exception was Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM).

The global gold giant defied the tide, jumping 3% after beating earnings estimates and churning out 1.5 million ounces of gold in Q2.

This is where we stood at about 1pm AEST:

Source: MarketIndex

In other large caps news, Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) wrapped up FY25 with a strong June quarter, hitting or beating all its guidance targets.

Managed run-of-mine (ROM) production for the year jumped 60% to 39.1Mt, while equity coal sales hit 26.5Mt. Costs came in below forecast at ~$139/t, with capex also under guidance.

And, MAAS Group Holdings (ASX:MGH) slid 1% after confirming its Capital Asphalt unit had been swept into an ICAC probe.

The alleged dodgy dealings, involving bribes and inflated invoices worth $343 million, predate Maas’ involvement, but the market didn’t care much for the clarification.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 25 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
ALB	Albion Resources	0.135	96%	29,345,846	$9,103,400
MQR	Marquee Resource Ltd	0.014	56%	10,080,058	$5,024,723
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.003	50%	366,600	$2,742,635
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.012	50%	1,050,000	$3,920,351
KFM	Kingfisher Mining	0.070	49%	1,726,160	$2,524,605
5EA	5Eadvanced	0.805	34%	150,887	$8,822,124
RNX	Renegade Exploration	0.004	33%	1,000,000	$3,865,090
DBO	Diabloresources	0.019	27%	1,654,807	$2,521,738
CRR	Critical Resources	0.005	25%	1,870,000	$11,080,342
AMO	Ambertech Limited	0.185	23%	380,827	$14,310,717
IMB	Intelligent Monitor	0.590	22%	1,793,143	$173,011,446
AMS	Atomos	0.006	20%	889,120	$6,075,092
EE1	Earths Energy Ltd	0.006	20%	100,000	$2,649,821
LBL	Laserbond Limited	0.565	19%	418,460	$55,884,697
CRN	Coronado Global Res	0.230	18%	20,483,304	$326,908,477
CDE	Codeifai Limited	0.027	17%	24,380,319	$10,853,722
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.011	17%	692,621	$11,862,562
GBE	Globe Metals &Mining	0.042	17%	338,315	$25,007,508
GRE	Greentechmetals	0.091	17%	673,563	$8,844,820
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.014	17%	2,776,404	$20,475,599
TYX	Tyranna Res Ltd	0.004	17%	2,006,791	$9,865,276
NUZ	Neurizon Therapeutic	0.180	16%	1,225,464	$76,307,394
VHM	Vhmlimited	0.235	15%	183,202	$51,981,840
LSA	Lachlan Star Ltd	0.063	15%	74,000	$13,891,526

Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) has kicked off drilling at Collavilla with a bang, hitting gold in every hole from the first batch of assays. The standout was 11m at 20.0g/t from just 17m depth, including 5m at nearly 39g/t. It’s only scratched a small patch of the 4km-long Ives Find granite, but the early signs point to a high-grade system.

Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) has picked up a strategic package of copper-gold and silver-lead-zinc projects in NSW from Austin Metals for $200k in cash and $200k in shares. The deal includes 11 tenements across 700km2 in three key regions – Broken Hill, Cobar, and the Macquarie Arc - near major deposits. Standout assets include the Copper Blow IOCG prospect, which has returned hits up to 6.1% copper and 4.2g/t gold.

AmberTech (ASX:AMO) , which specialises in audio-visual tech and defence comms gear, expects FY25 revenue to top $100 million, up from $95.5 million last year. The second half alone brought in over $54 million, with margins also improving. Demand from defence continues to build, and Ambertech says its diversified product base is proving resilient despite soft patches in consumer HiFi.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 25 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
BMO	Bastion Minerals	0.001	-50%	300,000	$3,162,696
MIO	Macarthur Minerals	0.015	-40%	47,030	$4,991,638
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.001	-33%	2,000,000	$1,966,820
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,831,399	$3,152,954
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.001	-33%	1	$4,880,668
HCD	Hydrocarbon Dynamics	0.002	-33%	450,000	$3,234,328
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.001	-33%	333,333	$9,671,169
OB1	Orbminco Limited	0.001	-33%	4,961,460	$5,103,852
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.071	-29%	23,409	$12,211,261
AJL	AJ Lucas Group	0.005	-29%	90,000	$9,630,107
GTE	Great Western Exp.	0.016	-27%	4,329,219	$12,490,674
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.004	-20%	15,950,000	$12,130,095
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.005	-17%	381,631	$12,457,748
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.005	-17%	142,142	$1,388,819
OCT	Octava Minerals	0.034	-15%	1,062,312	$2,440,372
IFG	Infocusgroup Hldltd	0.018	-14%	1,067,733	$6,130,723
BNL	Blue Star Helium Ltd	0.006	-14%	437,628	$18,864,197
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.006	-14%	1,693,332	$29,920,265
TMS	Tennant Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	47,368	$7,461,233
ESK	Etherstack PLC	0.410	-14%	40,944	$62,990,701
JAT	Jatcorp Limited	0.320	-14%	18,805	$30,808,665
BMG	BMG Resources Ltd	0.007	-13%	121,958	$6,755,177
HPC	Thehydration	0.014	-13%	45,545	$6,892,815

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Joint pain has become a major focus for Australia's booming complementary medicines industry, now worth more than $6.4 billion a year. Complementary Medicines Group (CMG) is entering the conversation with a new product focused on knees.

Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) have passed another major milestone towards a DFS for its flagship Kasiya rutile-graphite project in Malawi.

GTI Energy (ASX:GTR) has secured approval to start drilling its Lo Herma uranium project in Wyoming as the US looks to rebuild its domestic supply chain.

Modelling at Firetail Resources’ (ASX:FTL) Picha copper project in Peru has been reinforced by UAV magnetics data pointing to the possibility of a significant porphyry system.

LAST ORDERS

Codeifai (ASX:CDE) says due diligence is nearly done on its acquisition of AntennaTransfer.io, a quantum-secure communications platform recently awarded exclusive defence and aerospace contracts worth over US$2.5m.

The deal is set to close by September 8, potentially positioning Codeifai as a future leader in AI and quantum-safe security.

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) has teamed up with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to investigate the use of its geneType technology. The two entities will collaborate to assess the value of genetic risk scores for breast and ovarian cancer, particularly in BRCA1/2 carriers.

Management says it’s an important step in understanding the connection between genetic predisposition and cancer prevalence, with the goal of enabling earlier detection, informed decision-making and proactive risk reduction.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Rhythm Biosciences is a Stockhead advertiser, it 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 slips as iron ore miners nurse a hangover; oil stocks surge