Materials Drive ASX Higher

The ASX shot out of the gates early following a solid lead from Wall St. on Friday, before giving up some of its early gains to end Monday up by 41.70 points, or 0.59%, to finish at 7,151.30. Materials and Energy stocks were popular today, with Uranium rebounding after some recent price weakness. Some of the leaders today were Renascor Resources, Bannerman Energy and Lotus Resources, who all rose by more than 10%.

There were nine of the 11 sectors which ended the day in the green. Leading the way was the Energy sector, which increased in value by 1.41%, reversing some of last week's losses. The Information Technology sector fell the most today, dropping by -0.56%.

The two stocks that rose the most on the index were Uranium operator Paladin Energy and Nickel ore miner Nickel Industries, both gaining by 9.56% and 6.67% respectively.

Economic News

In Australia, the total number of permitted houses fell by 9.0%. The number of privately owned homes that were permitted for building dropped by 2.5%, while the number of privately owned residences that were not houses dropped by 22.7%. Additionally, the value of non-residential buildings increased by 2.0%, while the value of total buildings decreased by 1.5%.

Quick Singles

• Gold stocks rose again today after a strong days trade on Friday, with Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) (+2.8%), St Barbara (ASX:SBM) (+0.6%), Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) (+2.2%) and Northern Star (ASX:NST) (+1.70%) leading the way

• Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) announced that CFO Ian Wells would resign effective 31 January 2023. The FMG share price decreased by 0.78% on the back of the news.

• In Overseas news, Ant Group announced that billionaire founder and executive Jack Ma will resign from his position.

• Lithium darling Core Lithium (ASX:CXO) announced that they will relocating their head off from Adelaide to Perth. Shares were flat on the day to $1.20.

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Top Story

IGO to Expand Lithium Portfolio

IGO Limited (ASX: IGO), one of the leaders in the ASX lithium market, is on the hunt for more lithium resources, today announcing that it has made an offer to buy Essential Metals Ltd. at a price of 50 cents per share (ASX: ESS) in a Joint Venture with Tianqi Lithium. The total value of the transaction is $136 million.

Essential Metals is a lithium exploration company that owns 100% of the Pioneer project in Western Australia, approximately 130km south of Kalgoorlie. On the back of the news, shares in Essential Metals rocketed up by 38% to $0.48.

The IGO share price also rose today closing at $14.28. The proposed transaction of $136 million would place the owner of the Pioneer Dome Project at a value that is 45% higher than its closing price on Friday.

Movers and Shakers

✅Biggest Winners

Essential Metals (ASX: ESS) share rose by 39.1% to $0.48 after its board recommended the takeover bid from a JV of Tianqi Lithium & IGO Limited. Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia has submitted an offer to acquire Essential Metals for 50 cents per share, or $136 million.

Imugene (ASX:IMU) announced that it had received ethics approval to start a phase 1 clinical trial of its new Oncolytic Virotherapy Vaxina in Australia. The trial is expected to last 24 months and will be funded from existing budgets and resources. The IMU share price rose by 6.2% to $0.17 on the back of the update.

❌ Biggest Losers 

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: TLX) fell by 7.2% to $6.87 after a trading update as part of a presentation at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. In the update, Telix reported unaudited revenue for Q4 2022 of $76.8 million. While this is a 39% rise over the previous quarter, it looks to have fallen slightly short of expectations.

AMP Ltd (ASX: AMP) was down 4.2% to $1.27 following an update on the divestiture of its Colimate Capital companies. AMP continues to await the transfer of its stake in China Life AMP Asset Management. There is a risk that if this continues for too long, the transaction's value could be diminished or even cancelled.

Small-Cap of the Day

Tempus Strikes Gold

It has been a remarkable day for Tempus Resources Ltd. (ASX: TMR). The junior miner has struck gold in a major way, with its Elizabeth Project assays yielding enormous discoveries. The stock was halted at 5.4 cents on Friday afternoon, leaving investors unsure about what today would bring.

The business disclosed test findings from five holes drilled at the project just after the ASX opened this morning, sending gold shares skyrocketing. At the session's high point, Tempus Resources's stock price reached $0.08, representing a 46.3% increase.

Tempus reported that assays have expanded bonanza and high-grade zones at the No. 9 Vein and the Blue Vein to more than 150 meters in strike length each. Bahnsen observed that it's probable the veins were connected. If this is the case, there may be further gold mineralization at the intersection and along the strike to the southwest.

Assays from the West and Main Veins provide additional confirmation that the veins extend approximately 220m beyond the prior drilling, bringing the total vein length to around 400m. The company is still expecting the findings of six additional drill holes, including those aimed at the previously reported veins.

Econcomic Calender

Outlook

Trade and Retail data in Australia is the biggest news while the globe will be watching the US CPI read on Friday

11th January

• AU Retail Sales MoM - est. 0.7%

12th January

• AU Trade Balance - est. AUD10900M

13th January

• US CPI YoY - est. 6.5%

• US Initial Jobless Claims - est. 220k

That's it from the team at ASX-News today. We hope you enjoyed our EOD wrap-up. Good night and happy investing!