by Peter Milios
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.9 per cent higher at 7,195.30. Real Estate, Materials, and Communication Services were the stars of the day, whilst Utilities was the only sector lagging.
One of the country’s largest renewable energy projects, Sun Cable, has fallen into administration. Sun Cable is backed by billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest, who said in a statement, “The appointment followed the absence of alignment with the objectives of all shareholders.” The plans were to build a major solar project in the Northern Territory and a cable to power Darwin and Singapore.
In other news, shares in Qantas (ASX:QAN) and Webjet (ASX:WEB) have finished at their highest levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Qantas finished at a price of $6.38 on Wednesday afternoon and has added 24.85 per cent over the past year. Webjet closed at $6.50 and has and has grown by 18.4 per cent over the last 12 months.
Futures
The Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 28 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 1.75 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a fall of 5 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 67 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performers
The best-performing sector was REITs, up 1.93 per cent. The worst-performing sector was S&P/ASX 200 Utilities, down 0.49 per cent.
The best-performing large cap was IGO (ASX:IGO), closing 5.18 per cent higher at $14.63. It was followed by shares in Allkem (ASX:AKE) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN).
The worst-performing large cap was Xero (ASX:XRO), closing 3.28 per cent lower at $69.29. It was followed by shares in Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) and EBOS Group (ASX:EBO).
Asian markets
Japan’s Nikkei has gained 1.01 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has gained 1.02 per cent.
China’s Shanghai Composite has gained 1.01 per cent.
Company news
Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) has announced that additional drilling has doubled the measured and indicated resources of 2.2 Million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE). Additional assays are now awaited to expand the area of high confidence resources. Shares last traded 0.90 percent higher at 84.3 cents.
Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ) has announced that they have intersected lithium and rubidium at their project in WA. The program drilled multiple pegmatite outcrops and resampled previous drilling intersections from Tantalum Australia in 2002. Shares last traded 18.9 percent higher at 6.3 cents.
Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS) announced that lithium company SQM Australia, will make a major cornerstone investment of up to A$20 million to acquire a 19.99 per cent interest in Azure through a two-stage transaction. Commenting on SQM’s investment, Azure’s Managing Director Mr Tony Rovira said: “The new relationship will allow Azure to draw upon SQM’s technical expertise in pegmatite-hosted lithium exploration, and project development, providing Azure with strong support as we look to develop the Andover lithium assets.” Shares last traded 33.3 percent higher at 30.0 cents.
Commodities and the dollar
Gold is trading at US$1,881.70 an ounce.
Iron ore is 2.9 per cent higher at US$122.15 a tonne.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a 1.67 per cent rise.
Light crude is trading $0.80 lower at US$74.32 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 69.18 US cents.
