Australian shares were higher in morning trading, led by the materials sector which offset weakness from gold miners and health care stocks.
The S&P/ASX200 is up today, gaining 17.80 points or 0.24% to 7,379.80. Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.10% and is currently 3.31% off its 52-week high.
The top-performing stocks in S&P/ASX200 are Nickel Mines Ltd up 4.31% and Orocobre Limited (ASX:ORE) up 3.93%.
Also performing well at time of writing were OZ Minerals Limited (ASX:OZL) gaining 3.6% to $25.92, Virgin Money UK up 3% to $3.82 and IGO Ltd up 2.7% to $9.34.
Beach Energy Ltd climbed 2.4% to $1.48, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd gained 2.3% to $7.11 and Tyro Payments firmed 2.3% to $4.06.
On the downside this morning were Silver Lake Resources Limited dipping 3.3% to $1.61, St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) falling 3.2% to $1.50 and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) down 2.8% to $3.79.
S&P ASX 200 best and worst
Of note this week
Last week it was wine, this week it’s whisky
Lark Distilling wants to be the Penfolds of Australian whisky.
The Tasmanian distiller will step up its export program from 2023, following the acquisition of Kernke Family Shene Estate for $40 million.
The acquisition will be accompanied by a $53 million capital raise. The company is currently in a trading halt ahead of the $5 per share raise at a skinny discount to the closing price of $5.06 on Friday.
Directors will stump up for $6.4 million, while retail shareholders will be able to buy up to $30,000 worth of shares.
The acquisition gives Lark the ability to start an aggressive export program based on the premise of a high quality, clean and green provenance of Tasmanian whisky.
Lark will spend $13 million of its raise on a new greenfields distillery on Kernke’s Pontville Distillery site. It will have a capacity of 1 million litres and should be up and running by June 2023.
The new distillery is the panacea to Lark’s potential whisky shortage, which had threatened its export plans. The acquisition will bring an extra 483,000 litres of whisky at maturation stage worth $24 million.
“We’re following a really well-known playbook in Australian alcohol, and in particular Australian wine,” Lark managing director Geoff Bainbridge said.
“We believe there is a great opportunity for a company like us,” he said.
Bainbridge called Lark the Penfolds of whisky.
“It’s certainly how we articulate our position in the elevator pitch.
“Lark is the Penfolds of Australian whisky,” he said.
Lark’s share price has more than tripled since January when it was at $1.50.
Quarterlies
It is quarterlies season again.
It seems we just finished reporting on the last lot, followed by the annual reports and the next lot are now trickling through.
The same is happening in the US, where analysts are poring over results and determining which key information is likely to have an impact on markets.
Expect to see several quarterly write ups in the coming weeks.
Chinese GDP
Chinese GDP figures are due this afternoon.
According to Joseph Palmer & Sons director Alex Moffatt, “Economists have circled 5.2%pa for economic growth for the third quarter, down from 7.9%pa recorded for the second quarter. China also reports on industrial production today and, again, a drop is forecast.”
We’ll see what that does to markets in the short term.
Turkey’s central bank gets a shake up
“Turkey continues to struggle with high inflation leading the president to sack three members of the central bank monetary policy committee,” Moffatt said.
“The Lira set new record lows against both the Dollar and the Euro last week as traders positioned themselves for more interest rate cuts despite the high level of inflation. The Turkish central bank cut its base rate by 100 basis points last month to 18% and the market is forecasting further cuts. Inflation in Turkey is running at 19.6%.”
On the small cap front
Flynn Gold (ASX:FG1) Ltd is up 13.33% having identified several prospective tin and tungsten targets at its wholly-owned Cameron Tin Project in northeast Tasmania.
Shree Minerals Limited is up 10% having identified the potential for lithium-bearing pegmatites in addition to the gold mineralisation targeted initially at the Dundas Project in Western Australia.
Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ) is up 5.41% after kicking off its inaugural exploration drilling.
Patrys Limited is up 4.65%. PAB welcomed data from a completed pre-clinical study that demonstrates that its’ full-sized deoxymab antibody, PAT-DX3, increases survival in an animal model of breast cancer.
Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) is up 3.81% on confirmation that it has been accepted into the innovation session of the prestigious Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference, further validating the clinical relevance of the company’s technology.
Westar Resources Ltd (ASX:WSR) is up 2.78% after consolidating its base metals portfolio on entering into a binding agreement to earn a 75% stake in the Geoff Well Project.
Medallion Metals Ltd (ASX:MM8) is up 2.44%. First pass reconnaissance reverse circulation (RC) drill program has confirmed a mineralised system at its Meridian prospect over a 700-metre strike length.
Archer Materials Ltd (ASX:AXE, OTC:ARRXF) is up 2.19%. AXE will close its share purchase plan (SPP) early after receiving strong support from eligible shareholders to raise A$10 million, double the initial target.