Despite mining losses, the ASX was higher in morning trading.
It is a small gain, but the S&P/ASX200 is up just 6.40 points at time of writing to 7,440.60.
Over the last five days, the index has gained 0.65% and is currently 2.52% off of its 52-week high.
The top-performing stocks in this index are Chalice Mining Ltd (ASX:CHN, OTCQB:CGMLF) up 7.36% after yesterday’s almost 20% gain and Kogan.com Ltd up 4.76%.
Banks were also performing well.
NAB gained 3.4% to hit a 2-year high of $29.86 and the other majors rose more than 1%.
The results led to target upgrades including a 10% increase to $29.50 by Citi, while Bloomberg's consensus target price crept up to $30.26 from $30.03.
Hello world
On the flipside, Helloworld Travel Ltd is trading down 1.42% today, but can finally see the upside.
“We believe that subject to borders opening to Australia and New Zealand for fully vaccinated travellers from our key international markets the inbound numbers to Australia should recover to their pre-COVID levels in calendar 2023 given what we know is an enormous pent-up demand for visitors to come to this part of the world," CEO Andrew Burnes said.
October saw a 50% uptick in total transaction value from September to $109.4 million, but the group is expecting significant growth from November onwards, with forward-looking bookings strong.
"Throughout the pandemic, every time a travel opportunity has opened up the response from both our leisure and corporate customers has been immediate and we are now seeing the response to the reopening of Australia’s international borders is very powerful and as State border shackles come down, we expect significant growth in that area as well.
"We are still awaiting decisions by government, both State and Federal, in relation to the recommencement of cruise for intra-Australian, Trans-Tasman, Trans-Pacific and international cruising. This is a huge business for operators and distributors alike and the industry has worked extremely hard on a global basis to put in place operating protocols to ensure that passengers and crew onboard their ships remain safe and well.
"Global cruising has commenced in a number of destinations and been operating very successfully in terms of managing the health and well-being of those on board and we look forward to a resolution to any of the issues that might still be remaining in the near term so that Australians and New Zealanders can get back to cruising the waters of the world and enjoying this much-loved leisure pastime of millions of people," Burnes said.
Andromeda dips
Explorer Andromeda Metals Ltd (ASX:ADN) is down 14% on the back of its announcement that it will acquire joint venture partner Minotaur in a $108 million takeover deal.
The combined entity would have a market capitalisation of approximately $552 million.
Minotaur holds a 25% interest in ADN’s Great White Kaolin project on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
On the small cap front
Skyfii Ltd (ASX:SKF, OTC:SFIIF) is up 10.53%. SKF signed key contracts in the global airport vertical with a combined total contract value of A$1 million for its SaaS cloud-based services that help physical venues use data to measure, predict and influence visitor behaviour.
Australian Vanadium Ltd (ASX:AVL) has been lively in the last couple of days and is up 4.17% for its good work. Yesterday, AVL signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Guangxi Shenglong Metallurgy International Pte Limited for offtake of its iron titanium (FeTi) co-product. Today, it signed an MoU with Spanish company E22, to supply vanadium for the manufacture of E22’s next-generation vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs).
Duke Exploration Ltd (ASX:DEX) is up 2.78%. DEX increased its prospective exploration targets at Bundarra Copper Project in North Queensland to 10 after four more highly anomalous exploration areas were identified during a soil sampling program.
Blackstone Minerals Ltd (ASX:BSX, OTCQX:BLSTF) is up 2.59%, making good on the first phase of its plan to raise A$55 million to continue driving its Ta Khoa Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Element (PGE) Project in Vietnam toward production.