Closing Bell: ASX cops body shot, down 0.92pc as Trump swings tariff bat
Reminiscent of Oprah on a particularly bad hair day, Trump was handing out tariffs like they were Volkswagens today.
With the tariff pause deadline finally expiring, US President Trump gleefully began swinging the tariff club, smacking Canada with a 10% hike to bring their total tariff rate to 35%.
Dozens of countries were walloped with new import taxes, coming in at anywhere from 10% to 50%.
Brazil, India, Taiwan, Switzerland, South Africa, Laos, Vietnam… It might genuinely be easier to list who isn't affected.
While Australia was spared anything beyond the current 10% tariff we're operating under (so far), the ASX was a bit like a poorly treated dog spotting a rolled newspaper in hand.
The bourse retreated 0.92% in a sea of red, with 10 of 11 sectors in the negative.
Utilities was the only sector to stand its ground, rising 0.70% as investors piled into the defensive industry.
Carbon credit and landfill gas management firm LGI (ASX:LGI) soared 14% in trade on no fresh news. They were joined by small caps Energy World (ASX:EWC), up 4%, and Frontier Energy (ASX:FHE), up 5%.
In the bigger stocks, Origin Energy (AX:ORG) gained 0.7%, while APA Group (ASX:APA) added 0.7% and AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) lifted 0.4%.
Taking a peek at our indices, the ASX 200 Resources recovered a little of its pep to inch up 0.08%, mostly on gains in rare earth stocks, before reversing course and sliding by the same percentage.
Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) jumped 17%, while Northern Minerals (ASX:NTU) added 3.2% and Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) 3.6%. Lithium and iron ore miner Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) joined the party, climbing 4.6%.
ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS
Today's best performing small cap stocks:
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
DMG Dragon Mountain Gold 0.013 117% 1130675 $2,368,030
CYQ Cycliq Group Ltd 0.004 100% 16315854 $921,033
1AE Aurora Energy Metals 0.077 54% 2184444 $8,953,187
ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.003 50% 311236 $8,030,871
EEL Enrg Elements Ltd 0.0015 50% 250000 $3,253,779
MEL Metgasco Ltd 0.003 50% 128627 $3,674,173
RDS Redstone Resources 0.004 33% 2000000 $3,102,802
RLG Roolife Group Ltd 0.004 33% 70872 $4,778,344
LKY Locksley Resources 0.14 33% 34589399 $19,250,000
PNN Power Minerals Ltd 0.078 32% 2760510 $8,517,795
AON Apollo Minerals Ltd 0.009 29% 150000 $6,499,198
MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.009 29% 4108571 $16,226,260
PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.0025 25% 200090 $4,602,180
VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 4040000 $18,739,398
GBE Globe Metals &Mining 0.055 25% 995968 $30,564,732
JLL Jindalee Lithium Ltd 0.485 23% 80701 $31,548,984
RR1 Reach Resources Ltd 0.011 22% 1316637 $7,869,882
IR1 Irismetals 0.11 22% 980610 $16,016,344
CBL Control Bionics 0.045 22% 148156 $10,900,611
SPG Spc Global Holdings 0.4 21% 116060 $63,684,021
SRI Sipa Resources Ltd 0.018 20% 787615 $7,807,469
ADG Adelong Gold Limited 0.006 20% 4221257 $11,243,383
BNL Blue Star Helium Ltd 0.006 20% 661184 $13,474,426
DTM Dart Mining NL 0.003 20% 8039329 $2,995,139
PXX Polarx Limited 0.012 20% 11153225 $23,755,010
In the news…
Dragon Mountain Gold (ASX:DMG) has wiped out a convertible loan from October 2024 with a new loan provided by an unrelated major shareholder, ticking off the interest at the same time.
With its books in better shape, DMG has more flexibility to pursue fund raising efforts and look at new opportunities for acquisitions.
Aurora Energy Metals (ASX:1AE) is rubbing its hands together over a potential US$16 million payout of Eagle Energy Metals' shares, as Eagle moves to list on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp.
Eagle holds an option over 1AE's Aurora uranium project in Oregon – if the deal goes through, 1AE will be entitled to a 1% royalty on future uranium production with some milestone payments on the table to boot.
Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) added $5.3m to the war chest after closing out a heavily oversubscribed share placement, featuring Tribeca Investment Partners as a cornerstone player.
Management says it's a tick of approval for its US critical minerals strategy, with a dozen new institutional investors joining the ledger. The funding will go to drilling high-grade antimony and rare earths at its Mojave project in California, and advancing downstream permitting in the US.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Today's worst performing small cap stocks:
Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap
1TT Thrive Tribe Tech 0.006 -40% 6494637 $1,015,864
EDEDA Eden Inv Ltd 0.022 -27% 158486 $6,164,822
PLG Pearlgullironlimited 0.011 -27% 5182 $3,068,127
SFG Seafarms Group Ltd 0.0015 -25% 85632 $9,673,198
GMN Gold Mountain Ltd 0.057 -25% 735124 $9,280,558
NAG Nagambie Resources 0.013 -24% 708816 $13,656,140
AIV Activex Limited 0.01 -23% 509846 $2,801,534
GGE Grand Gulf Energy 0.002 -20% 27966263 $7,051,062
MOH Moho Resources 0.004 -20% 200000 $3,727,070
OEL Otto Energy Limited 0.004 -20% 3181510 $23,975,049
TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.002 -20% 75548 $25,555,958
TMX Terrain Minerals 0.002 -20% 611996 $6,329,536
BDM Burgundy D Mines Ltd 0.027 -18% 2120163 $46,903,965
OKJ Oakajee Corp Ltd 0.048 -17% 359273 $5,303,870
ADY Admiralty Resources. 0.005 -17% 250000 $15,776,876
ALM Alma Metals Ltd 0.005 -17% 2150809 $11,104,423
FAU First Au Ltd 0.005 -17% 2100000 $12,457,748
PRM Prominence Energy 0.0025 -17% 84000 $1,459,411
SLZ Sultan Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 169954 $1,566,501
CHR Charger Metals 0.05 -15% 171504 $4,567,795
IRD Iron Road Ltd 0.028 -15% 47500 $27,412,862
DKM Duketon Mining 0.125 -14% 230177 $17,749,679
RPG Raptis Group Limited 0.165 -13% 543861 $66,630,122
AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.0035 -13% 50000 $5,538,785
KRR King River Resources 0.007 -13% 167319 $11,708,696
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Phase 1 drilling at Antipa Minerals' (ASX:AZY) Minyari Project in WA's Paterson Province has delivered new gold-copper zones and extended several existing deposits.
Asra Minerals (ASX:ASR) has completed a 23-hole reverse circulation drilling program at the Challenge prospect building on previous shallow gold hits.
Everest Metals Corporation (ASX:EMC) has validated the presence of further gold mineralisation beyond the established resource at its Mt Dimer Taipan project northeast of Kalgoorlie.
Aura Energy (ASX:AEE) has signed two key agreements for the future sale of uranium from its Tiris project in Mauritania.
Magmatic Resources (ASX:MAG) have locked in a $3.5 million exploration budget with joint venture partner Fortescue (ASX:FMG).
MoneyMe closed FY25 strong and heads into FY26 with strong operating cash flows, steady growth and AI firepower.
Redcastle Resources' (ASX:RC1) scoping study has indicated a two-stage open pit at Queen Alexandra could generate early cash flow of up to $15m.
DigitalX (ASX:DCC) has delivered a strong June quarter and made a decisive strategic pivot, doubling down on Bitcoin as a core treasury asset.
Trading halts
Akora Resources (ASX:AKO) – cap raise
Altair Minerals (ASX:ALR) – project acquisition and cap raise
Ballymore Resources (ASX:BMR) – cap raise
Infini Resources (ASX:I88) – cap raise
Macro Metals (ASX:M4M) – cap raise
Nutritional Growth Solutions (ASX:NGS) – cap raise
Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) – cap raise
Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) – cap raise
Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR) – cap raise
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Locksley Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.
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To that end, Nelson and his fellow panel members are recommending changes that make it easier for companies to pool those resources to manage them more efficiently. Ultimately, however, Nelson stresses that householders participating in these sorts of schemes need to see some real benefits. Otherwise, he says they're unlikely to take part, setting back efforts to better coordinate small-scale resources and costing everybody more in the long-term. "By not being observable to the market operator, that over time could result in duplication of investment," he says. "The market operator is not aware of how they're going to respond dynamically to price. "And the forecasts in the future are likely to overestimate how many resources are required." While Nelson is not being drawn on the state of the energy transition at the large-scale end of the development spectrum, other commentators are happy to oblige. Prominent among them is Bruce Mountain, an energy economist with the Victoria Energy Policy Centre and an ardent backer of the switch away from fossil fuels. Mountain is a longstanding critic of the central plan drawn up by the Australian Energy Market Operator to guide the country's transition. That document is known as the integrated system plan, or ISP. According to Mountain, it "claims to be the plan that determines where you should build what quantity of wind, solar, storage and transmission to get us there". Crucially, it revolves around big projects such as wind and solar farms, utility-scale batteries and offshore wind. And all these projects are supposed to be connected to the grid via huge transmission lines linking the country together. "When it came out, it was dancing in the streets, we are saved," Mountain quips. "It's a complete nonsense." At the heart of the ISP is the determination that the national electricity market, which spans Australia's eastern seaboard, needs 10,000km of new transmission lines. In a major blow to that vision, AEMO recently acknowledged that transmission costs had rocketed by up to 100 per cent on last year's estimates. AEMO blamed supply chain problems, including labour and material shortages, as well as increased complexity and social engagement costs. Mountain is having none of it, saying AEMO and successive governments had always downplayed the real costs implied by the ISP. Such blowouts, Mountain says, are an unacceptable risk to consumers because they would ultimately be on the hook for the whole cost through the regulatory system. "They had incentives to massively understate the costs and to overstate benefits because that's what ministers wanted to hear," he says. "Lo and behold, costs are now established or getting increasingly established to be horribly underestimated. "So ministers are now in the politically untenable position of making these horrific choices." For its part, AEMO acknowledges the escalations in the costs of transmission projects and says it will "revisit" some projects to see whether they should still go ahead. "We recognise that higher costs for network development would ultimately affect consumer bills," says Merryn York, AEMO's general manager of system design. Mountain says the many deep-rooted problems bedevilling the ISP and the large-scale projects that depend on it are unlikely to ease. In that sense, he says the main game will increasingly be at the small scale, in homes and businesses. And these customers, he notes, are not directly connected to large, high-voltage power lines but the poles and wires that crisscross Australia's towns and suburbs. They are connected to the small-scale distribution network. Mountain doesn't doubt the distribution network — and its customers — can do much of the heavy lifting required for Australia's energy transition. He says it's likely to be cheaper and quicker than a large-scale undertaking. What's more, it's happening anyway. "We have plenty enough roof space in our cities to meet the electrical demand of our cities and towns," Mountain says. "So we can go along and we will go a long way a lot more quickly with that before we need to worry about the next enormous increments that we will need or the next big plants that we need." Peter Tickler from Gridcog agrees. In fact, he goes even further. "I think it's fundamental," Tickler says. "You just need to look at all of the … the assumptions of the volume of small-scale flex that will be coming in and lending a hand. "I mean, if they're wrong on that volume, then that is a gargantuan gap. "We're not filling it today at the utility scale level at the rates we need.
