by Peter Milios
All sectors except for Materials and Energy finished higher today, as the market rallied 0.36 per cent or 25.20 points higher to 6958.90.
This comes as no surprise as China has confirmed that its strict Zero-COVID policy will remain, affecting Australian materials players such as BHP (ASX:BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG), which both finished lower.
Analysts at Macquarie upgraded their Chinese and regional lithium price forecasts and a peak price for spodumene, despite the COVID lockdowns, to reflect the changes in supply-demand dynamics. As a result, Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) finished 4.42 per cent, 3.79 per cent and 4.95 per cent higher respectively.
As a result of the rate rise last week, consumer confidence dropped 1.5 per cent, according to an ANZ-Roy Morgan survey.
David Plank, ANZ’s head of Australian economics stated, “falling confidence and rising inflation expectations creates a difficult mix for the RBA”.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are flat.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a fall of 4 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 13.25 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 19 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Utilities, up 1.38 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Energy, down 2.27 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN), closing 4.95 per cent higher at $79.11. It was followed by shares in Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and The A2 Milk Company (ASX:A2M).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was James Hardie Industries (ASX:JHX), closing 13.72 per cent lower at $28.81. It was followed by shares in Sims (ASX:SGM) and New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC).
Asian news
Asian equities are looking mixed today.
Greater China markets are pulling back following a recent rally driven by reopening hopes.
Other markets are performing better, with Japan, Korea and Taiwan leading gains.
So far, Japan’s Nikkei has gained 1.35 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 0.30 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite has lost 0.62 per cent.
Company news
Antilles Gold (ASX:AAU) announced that it has received preliminary assays for three cored holes from a six hole program at El Pilar in central Cuba that was recently completed in September. The holes were located along 300m of strike on the gold-copper oxide deposit that appears to overlay a large copper-gold porphyry deposit. Antilles Gold’s Exploration Director, Dr Christian Grainger commented that the assays from the oxide deposit were consistent with the historic drilling results that were the basis for the Exploration Target Range reported to the ASX in July this year. Shares closed 16.67 per cent lower at $0.035
Skyfii (ASX:SKF) announced that it has signed an agreement for the deployment of Skyfii’s restaurant operations solution across an initial eight McDonald’s restaurants in the USA. The initial three-year contract has a Total Contract Value of AU $2 million. Wayne Arthur, CEO of Skyfii commented: “The opportunity to partner with both Halverson Group and McDonald’s to create an industry-first solution that solves some critical pain points for such a large and globally recognised QSR brand is a privilege. I am exceptionally proud that as consumer behaviour continues to evolve and the needs of our customers change, Skyfii can advance its solution offering to provide valuable operational data analytics to help solve these pain points for our clients.” Shares closed 62.86 per cent higher at $0.057
Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) announced a drilling update from the 100 per cent owned Webbs Consol Silver Project located in the New England Fold Belt in north-eastern New South Wales. The ongoing Phase II drill program at the Webbs Consol Silver Project has resulted in another two significant drill intercepts. In response, Managing Director, Ted Leschke commented: “Discovering near-surface high-grade mineralisation in six lodes to date demonstrates both the rich endowment and potential scale of the Webbs Consol mineral system. This has heightened our confidence in on-going exploration efforts”. Shares closed 21.74 per cent higher at $0.14.
AD1 Holdings (ASX:AD1) a technology company with a growing portfolio of market-leading software businesses, announced that Art of Mentoring (AoM) has made a record breaking start to the year in North America with total revenue up 126 per cent year on year, driven by unprecedented new business sales. AD1 anticipates new contract wins achieved in year-to-date FY23 will deliver an LTV of approximately $1.43 million, based on historical customer retention rates. In response, AD1 Holdings Chief Executive Officer Brendan Kavenagh said: “AoM has delivered strong performance since the beginning of FY23 with important new customer wins and the renewal of key contracts with existing customers. This has created great momentum throughout AoM and the AD1 Group and we are thrilled to keep this momentum going as we move forward into FY23.” Shares closed 20 per cent higher at $0.018.
Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) announced today a new discovery at its flagship Seymour Lithium Project in Ontario, Canada. The new discovery, Blue Bear, is located approximately 500m south-east of the Aubry Complex, on the Pye West Limb, and sits within the same current mine permitting and baseline study boundary. GT1 Chief Executive Officer, Luke Cox commented: “This is the first discovery at Seymour in over 50 years. To find a spodumene-bearing pegmatite under cover utilising classic geological and modern geophysical and geochemical techniques is testament to the abilities of the GT1 technical team and our exploration modelling.” Shares closed 9.5 per cent higher at $1.095
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1669.33 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.1 per cent lower at US$87.95 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 0.45 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.34 lower at US$91.45 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 64.53 US cents.
