Australian shares have picked up the pace a little today, gaining 56.00 points or 0.69% to 8,206.00.
The top-performing stocks are Arcadium Lithium PLC – for which mining giant Rio Tinto confirmed it was making a bid – and Liontown Resources Ltd, up a whopping 47.13% and 19.93% respectively.
Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged but is currently 0.96% below its 52-week high.
Financials led the way across the sectors, up 1.69%, followed by Information Technology, which made a late surge to end 1.41% up.
Consumer Discretionary and Energy were both in the green by 0.67% and 0.58% respectively, while Real Estate was down by as much as 1.38% in mid-afternoon trade, coming to rest 1.12% down at close of play.
Real estate flat
The sector’s lacklustre performance comes as auction clearance rates drop to their lowest level since December 2022, with CoreLogic reporting a preliminary combined capitals rate of 63.9%.
This marks a continued decline from the previous week’s 64.5%, later revised to 60.6%.
Long weekends in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT likely contributed to the slowdown, though Melbourne saw stronger activity compared to other regions.
OpenAI is making news for a range of reasons at the moment, the latest being the announcement of a $6.6 billion private funding round.
The funding round is the biggest in Silicon Valley history and would give the relative start-up a valuation of $157 billion, despite what remains an unclear path to profitability and recent governance shake-ups.
The five at five
Kali Metals soars on expansion of Pilbara lithium joint venture
Kali Metals Ltd (ASX:KM1) has skyrocketed after global lithium giant SQM (NYSE:SQM) (SQM (NYSE:SQM)) agreed to expand the area of an existing lithium joint venture in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and amend the terms of an earn-in agreement.
Cobre discovers high-purity quartz at Perrinvale; defines significant exploration target
Cobre Ltd (ASX:CBE) has discovered multiple quartz units and defined a high-purity quartz exploration target at its wholly-owned Perrinvale Project in Western Australia.
Orthocell hits record revenue for second consecutive quarter, prepares for US expansion
Regenerative medicine company Orthocell Ltd has chalked up record revenue of A$2.03 million for the September 2024 quarter, marking a second consecutive quarter of record growth.
Element 25 plans to launch world-first Scania fleet of autonomous in-pit mining trucks
Planning is underway for the launch of Scania’s world-first fleet of autonomous in-pit mining trucks at the 100%-owned Butcherbird Manganese Mine of Element 25 Ltd in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Lightning Minerals moves to define lithium drill targets at Dundas in Western Australia
Lightning Minerals Ltd (ASX:L1M) is undertaking targeted infill soil sampling at its Dundas Lithium Project in Western Australia to further define lithium drill targets as it tests previously identified lithium in soil anomalism of up to 147ppm.
On your six
Celsius Resources in deal with government agency to boost local workforce skills for MCB Copper-Gold Project
Local jobs are the focus of a partnership between Celsius Resources Ltd (ASX:CLA, AIM:CLA) Philippines affiliate Makilala Mining Company Inc (MMCI) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), which will develop community skills for Celsius’ flagship Maalinao-Caigutan-Biyog (MCB) Copper-Gold Project.
The one to watch
Alkane Resources progresses regional exploration to extend Tomingley life
Alkane Resources Ltd (ASX:ALK, OTC:ALKEF) managing director Nic Earner joins Proactive’s Tylah Tully to discuss the company’s progress on regional exploration efforts at the Tomingley Gold Project (TGP) in Central West New South Wales.