The ASX was in the green in morning trading with the S&P/ASX200 gaining 65.40 points or 0.89% to 7,440.30.
Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.31% and is currently 2.52% off its 52-week high.
The top-performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 are Worley Limited up 9.15% and Kogan.com Ltd up 9.06%.
There’s a good reason why Kogan is up: it reported solid growth in the September quarter.
Growth comes via an increase in Kogan First memberships and optimisation of its inventory position. Kogan First’s membership base grew 171.1% year on year and 64.4% quarter on quarter to 197,000 as of September 30, 2021, and is over 210,000 as of today.
Gross sales increased 21.1% year-on-year (YoY), but gross profit declined 1.7% on the same basis. Meanwhile, active customers grew 30.7% YoY to 3.35 million as of the end of September.
Inventory pressures have been resolved, inefficient warehouses have been closed down and warehousing costs reduced.
Inventories reduced from $227.9 million (comprising $191.8 million in warehouse and $36.1 million in transit) as of June 30, 2021, to $194.3 million (comprising $154.2 million in warehouse and $40.1 million in transit) as of September 30, 2021.
Bapcor rose 6.8% to $8.20, A2 Milk was up 5.6% to $7.36 and Redbubble jumped 5% to $4.20.
On the downside was Whitehaven Coal, declining 8.5% to $3.03, while Beach Energy dropped 3.2% to $1.44 following its quarterly update.
Bitcoin breaks record
ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, trading under the BITO ticker, made its trading debut, enjoying strong investor demand.
The fund rose as much as 5.4% to $US42.15, although it did pare back into negative territory at one point.
Bloomberg reported that more than 20 million shares changed hands by around 2.54pm in New York.
BITO is now the second-most heavily traded ETF for a first day of trading.
A BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) carbon fund holds the number one mantle.
Stephane Ouellette, chief executive and co-founder of FRNT Financial Inc., a crypto-focused capital-markets platform, said it was a successful launch.
“Given the amount of avenues retail investors calready have to participate in BTC, clearly the US-based ETFs are nonetheless satisfying some kind of latent, even if niche, demand.”
The launch comes as Bitcoin looks to trade at record highs.
eToro market analyst and crypto expert Simon Peters said, “Bitcoin soared last week, closing back in on its all-time high as investors bought the news of a new bitcoin ETF.
“After the confirmation of a bitcoin ETF by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the price began to pop.
“The turnaround for BTC has seen it close in on its previous all-time high - $63,569 - set on April 14 this year. Investors will now be watching closely to see if momentum is sustained to tip over that threshold.
Analyst Edward Moya noted that should traders view the early performance of the ETF as promising, the next resistance would come from the $70,000 level.
Ether meanwhile has experienced similar gains, although it is still a little further off from its previous all-time high. ETH traded as low as $3,419 on Monday before rising across the week to a high of $3,957. ETh previous ATH came on May 12 when it reached $4,177. It is currently trading around $3,820.
On the small cap front
Zelira Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ZLD, OTCQB:ZLDAF) is up 20.51% having raised a total of US$5 million from a US-based family office fund to accelerate its growth initiatives.
Sunstone Metals Ltd (ASX:STM) is up 10.61%. STM made considerable progress during the September quarter and is well-funded with A$13.2 million in cash to drive exploration at its Ecuadorian gold-copper projects.
BlackEarth Minerals NL (ASX:BEM) is up 9.6%. BEM strengthened its partnership with India-based company Metachem Manufacturing Company Pvt Ltd by executing a joint venture (JV) agreement to develop an expandable graphite plant in India.
Anson Resources Ltd (ASX:ASN) is up 5.81%, taking a crucial step towards production at its Paradox Brine Project in Utah, with the state's government giving the green light to drill two lithium-bromine production wells.
Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT, OTC:LMMFF) is up 4% after its investee Envirostream picked up a battery collection deal with Bunnings.
Castillo Copper Ltd (LSE:CCZ, ASX:CCZ) is up 2.38% having reviewed a comprehensive surface sampling campaign carried out at Litchfield Lithium Project in Australia's Northern Territory, becoming the only third party to date to do so.