The Australian All Ordinaries warmed up 1.8% today to close at 5,313 points as the Reserve Bank of Australia kept the cash rate at a record low of 2%.
Although trading coincided with a statement from RBA governor Glenn Stevens acknowledging lower commodity prices as the cause of much of the economy's ills, the latest report from the central bank added confidence to mining stocks, which gained 2.3% as a group.
MARKET ACTION
Shares in Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN) were trading as much as 17.4% higher today with news that the company had received a government approval to produce uranium via in-situ recovery at its Lance operation in the U.S.
Stock in the company closed 10.2% higher at A$1.30, which represents a 53% gain over a low hit in September.
This game changing approval was delivered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows Lance’s Ross permit area to pursue wellfield injection and production circuits as well as works related to ion exchange columns, water disposal pathways and transportation of resins for further offsite processing.
Ross constitutes the largest JORC-compliant ISR resource in the U.S. at 54 million pounds of U3O8.
While government approvals are always a major milestone in the uranium space, official clearance for production at Lance is especially positive for Peninsula since initial cashflows could underpin continued development of the project’s massive potential for low-risk expansion.
Given the underexplored nature of much of the Lance property holdings, the current resource could be tripled as uranium markets heat up and a U.S. stock market listing for Peninsula takes shape.
BLUE CHIPS
Fortescue Metals Group (ASX:FMG) up 2.0% to $2.00
Newcrest (ASX:NCM) up 3.7% to $11.31
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) up 2.1% to $46.87
Energy or Oil and Gas
Oil Search (ASX:OSH) down 0.1% to $8.19
Santos (ASX:STO) up 1.5% to $4.07
Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) up 2.2% to $30.79
Big 4 banks
ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) up 2.2% to $27.76
Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) up 1.7% to $80.82
National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) up 1.5% to $29.83
Westpac (ASX:WBC) up 2.0% to $32.79
Other banks, financials and industrials
AMP (ASX:AMP) up 1.9% to $5.92
Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) down 0.4% to $13.60
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX:BEN) up 2.6% to $11.45
Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) up 1.6% to $82.69
Suncorp (ASX:SUN) up 2.5% to $13.72
Telstra (ASX:TLS) up 2.4% to $5.49
Retailers
JB Hi-FI (ASX:JBH) down 1.9% to $18.95
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) up 2.3% to $38.97
Woolworths (ASX:WOW) up 3.5% to $24.49
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