by Peter Milios
The overnight Federal Reserve interest rate hike, coupled with peak lithium prices, have created a sell-off in the lithium sector.
Pilbara Minerals’ (ASX:PLS) latest auction on the battery material exchange has shown that spodumene prices may have peaked. Pilbara Minerals has accepted a bid for 10,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate at US$7552 per tonne, representing a 3 per cent decline on mid-November’s price of US$7805 a tonne.
Lake Resources (ASX:LKE), Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) and Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) closed 2.3 per cent, 7.9 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively, whilst Pilbara Minerals closed 11.43 per cent lower.
In other news, Elon Musk has sold US$3.6bn of shares in electric car maker Tesla. The reason for this has not been disclosed.
However, he remains Tesla’s largest shareholder, with a 13.4 per cent stake, according to financial market data provider Refinitiv.
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.64 per cent lower at 7,204.80.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 37 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 3 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 6.5 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a fall of 39 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was Consumer Staples, up 0.73 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Materials, down 1.35 per cent.
The best-performing stock was Blackmores (ASX:BKL), closing 7.47 per cent higher at $77.66. It was followed by shares in New Hope Corporation (ASX:NHC) and Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC).
The worst-performing stock was Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS), closing 11.43 per cent lower at $4.03. It was followed by shares in Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) and Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR).
Asian news
So far, Japan’s Nikkei has lost 0.41 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has lost 1.25 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite has lost 0.33 per cent.
Company news
Peregrine Gold (ASX:PGD) has announced Ultra High-Grade Gold and Silver results from its Birdsnest Costeans prospect in WA. The company also returned higher gold grades at their Peninsula prospect. In response, Mr George Merhi, Peregrine’s Technical Director, commented: “This costean programme conducted after the RC drilling has provided valuable information on the orientation of the mineralisation in 2D.” Shares last traded 64.4 per cent higher at $48.50 cents.
Global Lithium Resources (ASX:GL1) has announced that it has delivered a transformative 50 million tonnes in its lithium resource base. This represents a 230 per cent increase in their Manna project and a 71 per cent increase in their Marble Bar project. Global Lithium Managing Director, Ron Mitchell commented, “These game-changing Mineral Resource upgrades, at our 100 per cent-owned Western Australian hard-rock lithium projects, are a great outcome for GL1 following the nearly 85,000m exploration programs we have undertaken safely during 2022.” Shares last traded 0.99 per cent lower at $2.00.
Tinybeans Group (ASX:TNY) has provided investors with an end of year review and an outlook update for calendar 2023. Some highlights include that consumer revenues were up 60 per cent, and a reduction in operating expenses for the quarter to under US$3M from nearly US$4M in less than 6 months. Shares last traded 27.8 per cent higher at 23.0 cents.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1,801.70 an ounce.
Iron ore is trading 0.5 per cent lower at US$109.75 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1.92 per cent rise.
Light crude is trading $0.65 lower at US$76.63 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 68.32 US cents.
