Proactive's Tylah Tully gives a market wrap for October 29.
The ASX declined 0.25%, closing at 8,160 points. Over the past week, the index has fallen by 0.63% and is currently 2.74% below its 52-week high.
Mineral Resources led the gains, rising by 9.53% to $39.52 following its quarterly activity report. The company reported major developments, including completing the sale of a 49% interest in the Onslow Iron Haul Road to Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Infrastructure Partners for A$1.3 billion, and identifying A$300 million in operational and capital expenditure reductions.
Nickel Industries saw a 6.22% decrease to 90.5 cents without specific news, while AGL Energy (ASX:AGK) dropped 6% to $10.48 per share. Sector performance was mixed, with eight sectors declining; Consumer Staples led the losses with a 1.64% drop, while Information Technology increased by 0.52%.
In the small-cap sector, it has been a strong few weeks for Polymetals Ltd, rising from $0.26 on September 19 to a new record of $0.83 today, the third successive day of new records. Shares were as much as 22.97% higher than yesterday's close.
FireFly Metals Ltd (ASX:FFM) has hit a new two-year high for the past two days, with a 9.97% increase today taking shares to an intra-day high of $1.38.
Among other small cap risers today were Nova Minerals Ltd (ASX:NVA, NASDAQ:NVA), which was up to 15.22% higher to $0.265, Strickland Metals Ltd (ASX:STK) had good results from Serbia and was as much as 15.16% higher to $0.076, Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB, OTC:CBBHF) was 12.91% higher to $0.105, Highfield Resources Ltd (ASX:HFR) increased by 10.21% to $0.27 and QMines Ltd (ASX:QML) was up 9.53% to $0.069.