Closing Bell: ASX escapes Monday’s hole with miners on shovel duty

• ASX claws back from a 0.8% hole to finish 0.17% higher
• Miners bounce hard while defensives cop it
• Tuas plunges as Singapore regulator comes knocking

The ASX spent Monday morning in wet-blanket mode. Thankfully it got bored of that.

The index fell as much as 0.8% early before hauling itself back to slightly better than flat by the closing clang.

Miners did most of the rescuing after Friday’s hiding, while banks recovered from a pretty ordinary start of their own.

Oil had set the mood overnight, briefly pushing towards US$117 a barrel as Middle East tensions flared again and Wall Street slipped.

Then crude cooled, bond yields eased and the ASX decided maybe Monday didn’t need to be a complete and utter bastard after all.

Wednesday’s inflation numbers are still looming, though, with traders increasingly twitchy about another RBA hike next week.

TLDR on all that? Bad open. Decent recovery. CPI still lurking in the bushes.

Here’s what else caught our eye…

• Challenger (ASX:CGF) has told Dai-ichi Life its $11.80-a-share takeover offer needs more money attached to it. The talks are still alive, so nobody’s stormed out of the restaurant yet.
• Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants access to as many as 80,000 US mobile phone sites as it eyes a fourth nationwide wireless network. Imagine explaining this bloke to someone in 1985.
• A Brazilian ETF plunged 13% in Japanese trade after Lula pulled off a comeback election win over Flávio Bolsonaro. Investors had backed the other horse.
• And US consumers are feeling increasingly ordinary about life, with inflation expectations rising and buying conditions for durable goods hitting a record low. Harvey Norman staff may wish to lower expectations.

Movers and Shakeouts

The ASX 200 finished 0.17% higher after spending the morning somewhere much uglier.

Materials led the recovery with a 1.71% gain, while real estate added 1.32%, tech rose 1.03% and energy gained 0.92%.

Small caps also joined in, with the Small Ordinaries up 0.83%. Gold stocks did even better, rising 2.93%.

The red side was mostly defensive. Staples fell 1.54%, discretionary lost 0.96%, while utilities slipped 0.63%. Financials, healthcare and telcos all finished 0.52% lower.

Banks were down 0.56%, so after Friday’s heroics they handed the cape back.

Tuas (ASX:TUA) was the day’s standout disaster, plunging after Singapore’s telco regulator alleged its Simba subsidiary had used spectrum without authorisation and raised concerns over its compliance. No findings have been made.

BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) went the other way after lifting first-half underlying EBIT guidance to almost $1.1 billion, helped by stronger US steel margins.

And LCL Resources (ASX:LCL) had Rio Tinto back for seconds in PNG, signing a second farm-in that could see Rio spend up to $46 million on the Liamu copper-gold project. For a company worth less than $8 million, that’s not exactly loose change.

ASX Leaders

Today’s best-performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap SPX Spenda Limited 0.0015 50% 2512160 $1,238,901 BNLDB Blue Star Helium Ltd 0.13 30% 200540 $12,305,830 DTR Dateline Resources 0.09 27% 17058009 $285,017,812 LCL LCL Resources Ltd 0.008 23% 11127339 $7,835,796 TG1 Techgen Metals Ltd 0.0085 21% 773478 $3,816,391 LVE Love Group Global 0.12 20% 6101 $4,053,417 FEL Forte Energy Ltd 0.006 20% 120000 $4,330,019 LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.006 20% 14205077 $7,448,518 SPD Southernpalladium 1.63 20% 183316 $179,967,319 OZM Ozaurum Resources 0.074 19% 84334 $17,992,516 PPL Pureprofile Ltd 0.031 19% 3572476 $31,452,197 IPT Impact Minerals 0.026 18% 663811 $12,885,361 WMG Western Mines 0.135 17% 34208 $14,992,725 PIM Pinnacleminerals 0.048 17% 7225746 $4,734,000 EIQ Echoiq Ltd 0.515 17% 7132995 $325,984,903 MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.007 17% 2950000 $19,278,223 SBR Sabre Resources 0.007 17% 30001 $5,486,772 MTM Metallium Ltd 0.215 16% 7828019 $139,729,070 PM1 Palisade Metals Ltd 0.058 16% 233526 $14,496,813 A11 Atlantic Lithium 0.3 15% 3271304 $208,390,856 HOR Horseshoe Metals Ltd 0.016 14% 213594 $10,500,127 NWM Norwest Minerals 0.008 14% 505516 $9,463,203 IXC Invex Ther 0.12 14% 475676 $7,891,154 CF1 Complii Fintech Ltd 0.025 14% 590059 $13,490,404 TBN Tamboran 0.215 13% 5611232 $251,647,932

Also making news… 

Pureprofile (ASX:PPL) has kicked off FY27 with record quarterly revenue of $18.3 million, up 14%, while EBITDA jumped 27% to $2.4 million.

Its technology platform revenue more than doubled to $8.8 million, and it’s forecasting full-year revenue of $72 million to $75 million with an EBITDA margin of 11–12%.

Impact Minerals (ASX:IPT) is having a bit of a makeover, putting its 80%-owned Lake Hope high-purity alumina project in WA front and centre while reviewing its older metals assets and shifting exploration towards critical minerals.

It’s aiming to commission the Lake Hope pilot plant by November 30, while also refreshing its board and proposing a new company name as it works to attract institutional investors.

ASX Laggards

Today’s worst-performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap PRM Prominence Energy 0.001 -50% 354976 $5,415,335 WEL Winchester Energy 0.001 -33% 6000000 $2,569,528 TUA Tuas Limited 1.265 -30% 26976603 $998,081,031 STK Strickland Metals 0.038 -30% 32432142 $142,652,813 EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.011 -27% 10223993 $5,284,899 OEQ Orion Equities 0.13 -26% 359503 $2,734,455 BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.003 -25% 180000 $12,047,894 HIQ Hitiq Limited 0.003 -25% 70582 $4,635,734 MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.003 -25% 1599500 $15,127,875 MQR Marquee Resource Ltd 0.003 -25% 201000 $4,543,187 NS1 Nodestream Ltd 0.003 -25% 261121 $8,051,401 OVT Ovanti Limited 0.0015 -25% 35687577 $2,363,348 OFX OFX Group Ltd 0.385 -25% 7213009 $118,704,091 PFM Platformo Ltd 0.011 -21% 80642 $1,328,716 MX1 Micro-X Limited 0.041 -21% 1106141 $39,126,716 YUG Yugo Metals Ltd 0.042 -21% 389268 $22,848,331 GPR Geopacific Resources 0.024 -20% 351906 $96,817,860 VR8 Vanadium Resources 0.024 -20% 15948901 $21,029,001 H3E H3 Energy Ltd 0.004 -20% 475696 $6,703,813 M2M Mtmalcolmminesnl 0.004 -20% 1207716 $3,967,333 RKB Rokeby Resources Ltd 0.002 -20% 5847250 $7,441,825 X2M X2M Connect Limited 0.004 -20% 16630504 $12,972,740 GIB Gibb River Diamonds 0.025 -19% 83277 $6,649,793 GTI Gratifii 0.021 -19% 1296017 $17,939,781 ID1 Identifai Genetics 0.39 -19% 278967 $52,289,434

In Case You Missed It

Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) is pursuing a non-dilutive funding option for its Green River project.

Arika Resources (ASX:ARI) has hit 19m at 7.99g/t gold in extension drilling at Champion.

Marmota (ASX:MEU) has doubled the high-grade gold strike at Greenewood through drilling.

Orpheus Uranium (ASX:ORP) has expanded its uranium portfolio with the Oobagooma acquisition while narrowing its Frome drilling focus.

Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM) has entered the US critical minerals sector through a Utah tungsten deal.

Red Metal (ASX:RDM) has reported further heap-leaching success ahead of the Sybella PFS.

Regener8 Resources (ASX:R8R) has defined its largest soil anomaly yet at Srebrenica North.

TG Metals (ASX:TG6) has hit lithium grades of up to 2.37% in drilling at Burmeister.

West Wits Mining (ASX:WWI) is gearing up for uranium-gold drilling at Bird Reef Central.

Trading Halts

American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) – acquisition completion
Aurora Labs (ASX:A3D) – capital raise
Bubalus Resources (ASX:BUS) – acquisition and capital raise
Centaurus Metals (ASX:CTM) – offtake agreements and funding
Desert Metals (ASX:DM1) – exploration asset disposal
ION Video (ASX:IOV) – commercial agreement
Macallum New Energy (ASX:MNE) – capital raise
Magnetite Mines (ASX:MGT) – capital raise
RBR Group (ASX:RBR) – Mozambique LNG contract
Red Sky Energy (ASX:ROG) – drilling results
Sprintex (ASX:SIX) – purchase order update

One More Thing…

Apparently today is also known as Horseless Carriage Day.

Pretty sure we eventually came up with a shorter name for those.

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