Closing Bell: ASX jumps 0.69pc as energy and resources do the heavy lifting
10 of 11 sectors higher as trade deal provides much needed relief
ASX now 0.45pc off all-time high
ASX surges on iron, gold and trade deals
A 2% uptick in iron ore, a more than 1% gain in gold prices and a Japanese-US trade deal have delighted ASX investors.
The ASX200 shot up 0.69%, with 10 of 11 sectors climbing. Materials (+1.22%) and energy (+0.83%) put in the hard work, leading the rest of the bourse higher.
Headlining gains were our miners.
Copper and gold company 29 Metals (ASX:29M) climbed 8.7%, graphite-focused Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) 8.3%, gold producer Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) 6.1% and lithium miner Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) 6.8%.
Over in energy, Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC) ticked up 6.45%, Woodside (ASX:WDS) added 1.45% and Ampol (ASX:ALD) lifted 3.27%.
The banks have also made a recovery after slipping for three trading days straight, with the ASX 200 Banks index climbing 0.86%.
Westpac (ASX:WBC) gained 1.42%, Suncorp (ASX:SUN) 0.89% and ANZ (ASX:ANZ) surged 2.5%.
Japan and US lock in trade deal
As the US dollar and bond yields continue to fall over increasing uncertainty around US President Trump's August 1 tariff deadline, Japan has gotten ahead of the pack.
Our northern trade partner has agreed to invest $US550 billion in the US economy and pay a tariff of 15%, according to a Truth Social post by Trump, wherein he also claimed Japan would lower barriers to trade in cars and rice.
The meatier details of the deal remain a mystery.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been under pressure to resign from his position after his coalition lost the majority in the upper house at the last election. His party suffered a similar defeat in the lower house last year.
'Our overarching concern is the interests of the nation,' Ishiba said.
'We are the first in the world to reduce tariffs on automobiles and auto parts, with no limits on volume,' he told reporters.
The Japanese Nikkei225 surged in response to the new trade deal, up 3.5% or 1420 points intraday to a 12-month high.
Automakers led the pack. Toyota jumped 15%, Honda 11% and Nissan 9%.
"The reduced 15% tariff, down from the previously flagged 25%, is meaningful and should lift sentiment in export-driven sectors, even if the fine print, especially on autos, remains critical,' Saxo Singapore Capital Markets chief investment strategist Charu Chanana said.
'Markets will largely discount the $550 billion FDI headline as political theatre rather than a tradable catalyst.
"Strategically, the deal allows Japan to sidestep immediate tariff escalation, while Trump's attention shifts elsewhere."
Japan joins a disappointingly small group of countries that have finalised formal trade deals with the US, including the Philippines, Indonesia, the UK, and Vietnam.
With just over a week left until the tariff pause expires, the rest of us are running out of time.
ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS
Today's best performing small cap stocks:
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
GTE Great Western Exp. 0.02 82% 7677247 $6,245,337
FAU First Au Ltd 0.006 50% 35831194 $8,305,165
HLX Helix Resources 0.0015 50% 64088 $3,364,194
RBR RBR Group Ltd 0.0015 50% 4365000 $3,120,285
LPM Lithium Plus 0.088 40% 664328 $8,368,920
CDE Codeifai Limited 0.025 39% 64354470 $8,494,218
PFM Platformo Ltd 0.076 38% 110 $5,219,957
FIN FIN Resources Ltd 0.004 33% 50000 $2,084,665
ATS Australis Oil & Gas 0.009 29% 13644883 $9,226,437
ADC Acdc Metals Ltd 0.054 29% 33106 $3,140,555
PVW PVW Res Ltd 0.019 27% 552164 $2,983,572
CTO Citigold Corp Ltd 0.005 25% 2046755 $12,000,000
PRX Prodigy Gold NL 0.0025 25% 266666 $12,700,222
WBE Whitebark Energy 0.005 25% 2670365 $2,802,231
OPL Opyl Limited 0.026 24% 2496114 $5,161,135
LKE Lake Resources 0.047 24% 33093708 $68,519,692
AVG Aust Vintage Ltd 0.11 21% 1387426 $29,981,126
AR3 Austrare 0.115 20% 1621941 $20,244,793
ALY Alchemy Resource Ltd 0.006 20% 667502 $5,890,381
AUR Auris Minerals Ltd 0.006 20% 84033 $2,383,130
SKK Stakk Limited 0.006 20% 388668 $10,375,398
INF Infinity Lithium 0.019 19% 1858948 $7,561,473
MKLDB Mighty Kingdom Ltd 0.16 19% 172335 $19,802,807
CR3 Core Energy Minerals 0.013 18% 5806723 $4,343,319
AAM Aumegametals 0.042 17% 1743941 $21,817,825
In the news…
Codeifai (ASX:CDE) is building out its AI expertise with the addition of former Nvidia machine learning expert Rafael Possas to its advisory panel. CDE is preparing to double down on its AI and quantum security offerings with the roll out of its QuantumAI Secure platform.
Possas was part of the team that built AI assistant Alexa and most recently took up a role as Canva's head of machine learning, and now joins a stacked advisory board full of veterans from OpenAI, WhatsApp and Binance. You can read more about the appointment here.
First Au (ASX:FAU) has put drills to ground for a 3000m drilling program at its Nimba Gold Project in Liberia, following up on an extensive field mapping program over a 10 square kilometre area.
FAU's main focus is on confirming gold mineralisation around a historical hole drilled by previous explorers, but the program will also investigate new gold targets and look for extensions of potential gold zones.
As lithium sentiment improves, Lithium Plus Minerals (ASX:LPM) is putting the final regulatory pieces in place to begin operations at its Lei lithium development project in the Northern Territory.
Designed as a direct shipping ore operation in partnership with Canmax Technologies, LPM is gearing up to ship 50% of all DSO spodumene concentrate produced at Lei directly to Canmax, one of China's leading lithium converters.
Pilot Energy (ASX:PGY) is poised to formally farm out its extensive offshore Perth Basin exploration acreage permit WA-481P. The ready-to-drill Leander Gas prospect has an estimated 1.1 TCF of gas prospective resources, with pre-existing pipelines/shore-crossing and associated permits already in place.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Today's worst performing small cap stocks:
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
SFG Seafarms Group Ltd 0.001 -50% 99072 $9,673,198
PRM Prominence Energy 0.002 -33% 212618 $1,459,411
VEN Vintage Energy 0.004 -33% 9722100 $12,521,482
EEL Enrg Elements Ltd 0.0015 -25% 11785807 $6,507,557
M2R Miramar 0.003 -25% 10974269 $3,987,293
RIM Rimfire Pacific 0.018 -25% 2919216 $60,621,453
SCP Scalare Partners 0.13 -24% 290407 $7,111,954
DYM Dynamicmetalslimited 0.2 -23% 201777 $12,761,928
KGD Kula Gold Limited 0.007 -22% 6259796 $8,291,283
BIT Biotron Limited 0.002 -20% 10000 $3,318,115
LEG Legend Mining 0.008 -20% 6376975 $29,144,772
MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.004 -20% 3466359 $2,128,192
ANO Advance Zinctek Ltd 0.915 -17% 6274 $68,910,718
AN1 Anagenics Limited 0.005 -17% 4000 $2,977,922
CUL Cullen Resources 0.005 -17% 1692777 $4,160,411
ENT Enterprise Metals 0.0025 -17% 200001 $4,113,952
MBK Metal Bank Ltd 0.01 -17% 266264 $5,969,508
MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.0025 -17% 20000 $2,335,467
SPQ Superior Resources 0.005 -17% 3700000 $14,225,896
TFL Tasfoods Ltd 0.005 -17% 100000 $2,622,573
ENV Enova Mining Limited 0.006 -14% 3195749 $10,203,200
IPB IPB Petroleum Ltd 0.006 -14% 255842 $4,944,821
LCL LCL Resources Ltd 0.006 -14% 635789 $8,394,800
RC1 Redcastle Resources 0.006 -14% 3300591 $5,204,968
AU1 The Agency Group Aus 0.0215 -14% 44501 $10,989,415
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
A feasibility study for Magnetic Resources' (ASX:MAU) Lady Julie project in WA highlights 'one of the highest margin undeveloped gold projects in Australia'.
Asra Minerals' (ASX:ASR) drilling has extended gold mineralisation at Gladstone prospect by 45m below previous intercepts, which could increase the resource footprint.
Trading Halts
Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) – exploration results from Yandal West
Askari Metals (ASX:AS2) – exploration update and ASX queries
International Graphite (ASX:IG6) – new graphite facility agreement
Kingfisher Mining (ASX:KFM) – acquisition and cap raise
Larvotto Resources (ASX:LRV) – cap raise
St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) – cap raise
Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) – exploration results from Paris Gold Project
Vanadium Resources (ASX:VR8) – cap raise
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Codeifai is a Stockhead advertiser, they did not sponsor this article.
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