The Australian All Ordinaries seemed to be at a loss for strong leads today, with trading on the index trailing off in the morning to a static range that led to a 0.8% weaker close at 5,267 points.
All told, it was a subdued session with mixed and muted performances from the big miners – but that doesn’t mean there
MARKET ACTION
Emmerson Resources (ASX:ERM) was trading as much as 37% higher than its Friday close today, achieving a 52-week high of A$0.048 before closing 23% stronger at $0.043.
This represents a 87% lift over the stock’s mid-March low of $0.023.
Today, this investor support was underpinned by more traction at the company’s Tennant Creek joint venture with Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) in the Northern Territory, where maiden drilling at the Maurentania prospect has reinforced the broader region’s reputation for bonanza-grade gold.
Assays from the site delivered gold grades of 3.22g/t across 30 metres in a hole that also produced a 15-metre intercept grading 5.67g/t gold. Another 3-metre assay returned 21.3gt gold. Rock chips in this area have marked gold grades up to 214g/t.
The Tennant Creek neighbourhood hosts the Nobles Nob mine, which has produced more than 1.1 million ounces of gold at a grade of 17.3g/t.
Evolution, which is sole funding the exploration to a tune of $15 million, likewise saw its shares jump as much as 12% on the day, closing 11.5% up at $1.50.
Shares in emerging South America-focused exploration play BBX Minerals (ASX:BBX) were also off to the races today, with news of visual gold in uncut core from the company’s Juma East project in Brazil.
BBX finished 90.5% better on the day at $0.04, with the company drawing comparisons between Juma and the 28-million-ounce Wafi-Golpu gold project in Papua New Guinea, owned by Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY).
Now back to the BLUE CHIPS
Major miners
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) down 0.9% to $25.36
Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) up 5.3% to $2.40
Newcrest (ASX:NCM) up 1.5% to $14.71
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) down 0.8% to $54.72
Energy or Oil and Gas
Oil Search (ASX:OSH) down 4.3% to $7.33
Santos (ASX:STO) down 0.7% to $5.93
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) down 1.8% to $32.02
Big 4 banks
ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) down 0.4% to $28.35
Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) down 1.2% to $74.65
National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) down 0.9% to $31.40
Westpac (ASX:WBC) down 0.8% to $30.62
Other banks, financials and industrials
AMP (ASX:AMP) down 1.0% to $5.75
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) down 0.6% to $12.72
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) down 0.6% to $10.36
Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) down 0.2% to $80.77
Suncorp (ASX:SUN) up 1.5% to $12.88
Telstra (ASX:TLS) down 1.1% to $5.58
Retailers
JB Hi-FI (ASX:JBH) down 3.0% to $18.10
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) down 0.4% to $40.20
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) down 0.5% to $26.60
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