Closing Bell: ASX bounces back on miners’ rally as US shutdown fears ease

ASX bounces back with miners leading the charge
US shutdown fears ease, giving markets a lift
Myer and Liontown shine as big movers on the ASX

The ASX bounced back on Friday, shaking off a three-day losing streak and finishing 0.52% higher after a rally from the miners.

But for the week, the benchmark ASX 200 index was still down over 2%.

The modest rally today helped the index recover from the correction it had fallen into yesterday when it had dropped over 10% from mid-February.

Meanwhile, in the US, a bit of relief came with news that a government shutdown might be avoided.

The shutdown is expected to be averted after top Democrat Chuck Schumer agreed to support a Republican spending bill that will keep the government funded until September.

If the shutdown were to happen, it would’ve kicked in at midnight tonight (US time).

US stock futures traded higher in Asia this afternoon as the news broke, which gave a little lift to major Asian indices, including the ASX.

But the market is still jittery after Trump threatened a 200% tariff on European wine and booze overnight.

“It’s a very volatile environment and we expect this to continue in the foreseeable future,” said Thomas Taw at BlackRock.

Back home, ASX miners were the stars today after iron ore prices pushed above $US103 per tonne.

BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) all climbed.

Gold miners were also on fire after gold hit a fresh record of $US2990 an ounce, and Macquarie forecasted it could hit $US3500 this year.

This is where we stood leading up to Friday’s close:

In the large caps space, retailer Myer (ASX:MYR) rose 1.6% after chairwoman Olivia Wirth overhauled her leadership team following the resignation of CFO Matt Jackman.

Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) has trimmed its half-year loss to $15.2 million, down from $31.3 million last year. Revenue hit $100.4 million, with over 100,000 tonnes of spodumene concentrate sold.

The miner kicked off production at its Kathleen Valley mine in July last year, however, due to low lithium prices, Liontown has revised its production forecast to 2.3 million tonnes per year from FY25. Shares jumped 7%.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Code	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.002	100%	1,777,522	$2,031,723
BEZ	Besragoldinc	0.034	21%	1,095,960	$11,633,691
COB	Cobalt Blue Ltd	0.066	20%	1,182,484	$24,171,032
CXU	Cauldron Energy Ltd	0.010	25%	5,023,762	$11,691,237
CZN	Corazon Ltd	0.003	25%	2,736,366	$2,369,145
ELT	Elementos Limited	0.061	22%	1,246,311	$11,806,592
EPM	Eclipse Metals	0.006	20%	364,756	$14,299,095
ERA	Energy Resources	0.003	25%	3,683,265	$810,792,482
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.003	50%	1,500,000	$5,997,899
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.006	100%	8,298,304	$1,794,553
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.024	20%	236,909	$9,251,842
KCC	Kincora Copper	0.031	24%	80,725	$6,025,393
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.003	25%	2,310,254	$4,887,272
MLX	Metals X Limited	0.670	23%	31,876,768	$483,083,388
OSL	Oncosil Medical	0.005	25%	472,775	$18,426,321
PGO	Pacgold	0.072	18%	270,181	$8,018,715
RAC	Race Oncology Ltd	1.270	23%	425,681	$178,933,514
RLT	Renergen Limited	0.760	69%	94,458	$13,646,689
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	100%	1,203,988	$4,836,599
SRI	Sipa Resources Ltd	0.012	20%	355,725	$4,163,983
SRZ	Stellar Resources	0.017	21%	26,667,420	$29,116,508
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.002	50%	622,579	$1,878,652
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.003	25%	260,000	$11,790,134

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Renergen Limited (ASX:RLT), a producer of liquid helium and liquefied natural gas, is up today on the back of what the company says is a “long-awaited event of filling a helium container with liquid”, which has now taken place. In other words, RLT has now begun its commercial liquid helium sales.

“The quality of both our LNG and liquid helium now exceeds minimum design specifications,” emphasised the company, adding: “We remain committed to increasing production and developing the Virginia Gas Project to its full potential.”

Vital Metals (ASX:VML), an advanced-stage exploration/development rare earths company, is up today after announcing this morning that it has entered a 12-month convertible loan agreement for $1 million and has formed a Canadian Strategic REE Consortium with industry expertise.

The company is currently completing a scoping study for its Tardiff deposit in Canada, examining the potential size and scalability of rare earths and niobium recovery from the deposit.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) has turned heads in the ASX biotech sector today after the company was given ethics approval for a phase I trial of RC220 alone and in combination with doxorubicin in adult solid tumour patients. The trial will be the first time patients have received the drug RC220 bisantrene.

Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL) has kicked off ore production at Plutonic East in WA, a pre-existing underground mine just 2km from the Plutonic processing plant. The move is part of Catalyst’s plan to reduce operating risks by opening up more ore sources and mining fronts. The redevelopment, which started in April 2024, was completed on time and on budget, using funds from operating cash flow. This marks the first of three new mines Catalyst plans to develop as it works towards doubling production in the area.

Elementos (ASX:ELT) has also kicked off drilling at its Cleveland tin project in Tasmania, targeting copper, gold, silver and tin. The drilling will test for extensions of high-grade copper and gold discovered in a previous hole. The program includes three drill holes totalling around 600m, aimed at exploring a promising target identified through strong electromagnetic results.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.002	-25%	3,395,842	$57,867,624
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,592,735	$10,601,880
ALR	Altairminerals	0.002	-20%	2,500	$10,741,860
AMS	Atomos	0.005	-17%	19,235	$7,290,111
ASP	Aspermont Limited	0.003	-40%	2,223,688	$12,350,058
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.003	-25%	6,192,496	$2,433,233
BSX	Blackstone Ltd	0.059	-20%	5,761,415	$50,064,225
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.003	-25%	2,707,328	$6,245,887
CKA	Cokal Ltd	0.040	-22%	4,866,915	$55,026,398
CRR	Critical Resources	0.004	-20%	652,357	$12,321,106
DTM	Dart Mining NL	0.004	-20%	82,091	$3,438,820
ECT	Env Clean Tech Ltd.	0.003	-17%	116,684	$10,940,431
GES	Genesis Resources	0.009	-18%	2,945	$8,611,254
GT1	Greentechnology	0.038	-34%	3,125,351	$22,547,622
GUM	Gumtree Australia	0.110	-19%	22,914	$43,331,298
KGD	Kula Gold Limited	0.004	-20%	4,865	$4,606,268
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.006	-14%	247,436	$20,221,206
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.002	-33%	400,000	$2,335,467
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	0.025	-17%	3,330	$9,823,174
PLN	Pioneer Lithium	0.120	-17%	53,269	$5,555,194
RB6	Rubixresources	0.087	-21%	50,000	$6,759,500
STM	Sunstone Metals Ltd	0.006	-21%	2,782,048	$36,050,025
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	-25%	47,742,986	$37,454,660
TOU	Tlou Energy Ltd	0.009	-18%	3,309,687	$14,284,428

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Explorer Latitude 66 (ASX:LAT) has appointed Jeremy Read as non-executive director to its board. Read is described as a “seasoned minerals resource industry executive”, having worked in Australia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Africa, North America and India.

Commodities Read has worked with include precious and base metals, particularly in nickel sulphides, copper and gold. He previously spent 11 years working for BHP and today serves as the chairman of Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL).

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Latitude 66 and Race Oncology are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.