Noticias

Lunch Wrap: ASX spikes as two-week ceasefire calms nerves, oil down 15pc

• ASX surges as war fears cool
• Oil plunge sparks global relief rally
• Tech and miners lead the charge

By lunchtime on Wednesday in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was ripping, soaring 2.6% like someone had flicked the “risk-on” switch back to full blast.

Only a couple hours earlier, Donald Trump had been threatening to flatten Iran’s civilisation if they didn’t play ball over the Strait of Hormuz.

He went in hard, threatening to wipe out infrastructure, bridges and energy grids. Basically everything that makes a country function, unless Iran backed off.

Markets were bracing for chaos.

But then came… a ceasefire.

A two-week “pause”, brokered with a bit of help from Pakistan, just enough to let oil tankers move again through the Strait. Critically, Iran and Israel have reportedly agreed to the ceasefire too. Like that, the TACO trade is back on.

West Texas crude dropped more than 15% on the news, dipping below US$100.

But let’s not pretend this is peace. It’s more like a timeout in a duel where both sides are still mad.

The deal itself is almost comically transactional. Iran reopens the Strait, but now ships might have to pay tolls to pass through – according to the Associated Press.

Back on the ASX, you could see exactly what kind of rally this was.

Tech stocks were leading again, by a mile.

WiseTech Global (ASX:WTC) jumped 8.5%, while Xero (ASX:XRO) rose around 4-5% mark.

Mining stocks joined the party too.

Diversified and gold standard bearers BHP (ASX:BHP) and Newmont Corporation (ASX:NEM) pushed higher, while energy stocks, unsurprisingly, got absolutely smoked.

A strong March production update from Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) pumped its shares up by 16.5%, producing 40,745oz from its WA mine of the same name and upping cash flow QoQ from $62m to $158m before hedgebook pre-deliveries.

In large cap news, Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP) jumped about 10% after it pumped out more than 82,000 ounces in the March quarter.

GGP also stacked another $260 million onto its balance sheet, taking cash to about $1.21 billion with zero debt.

Santos (ASX:STO) fell 5% despite a steady stream of positive operational updates.

Pikka in Alaska is nearly online with first oil due in weeks and targeting 80,000 barrels a day by mid-2026, while Quokka-1 confirmed strong flow rates with over 2,000 barrels per day.

Elsewhere, DroneShield (ASX:DRO) fell 15% after hitting reset at the top, with long-time CEO Oleg Vornik stepping aside and handing the keys to in-house tech gun Angus Bean.

Chairman Peter James has also decided to retire, and the timing hasn’t exactly helped confidence given both had sold down shares months earlier.

And finally, ProMedicus (ASX:PME) was up 7.5% after signing another big contract worth US$23m contract with a US health system, reminding the market why this stock never trades cheap.

ASX LEADERS

Today’s best performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) has secured FAST-41 status from the White House for its Antimony Ridge project in Idaho.

This will fast-track permitting, and confirm the company as a strategically important US source of antimony, a critical metal for defence and energy.

Advance Metals (ASX:AVM) has locked in its first JORC resource at Yoquivo, confirming a 33Moz silver equivalent system that points to real scale.

The company has pulled this together cheaply at about US10c/oz and with mineralisation still open, meaning this could be just the first proper look at what could be a much bigger asset. Advance has some notable backers, including Jupiter Asset Management and Tribeca Investment Partners, Lowell Resources Fund (ASX:LRT) and APAC Resources.

Hot Chili (ASX:HCH) reported a standout drill hit at its La Verde prospect in Chile, with a massive 725m intersection and a high-grade core now clearly extending deeper and wider.

It’s also seeing strong continuity near surface and across multiple zones, with drilling ramping up and more results pending. La Verde is the third major discovery at its Costa Fuego project after Productora and Cortadera.

ASX LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing stocks (including small caps) intraday:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

American Tungsten & Antimony (ASX:AT4) appoints David Groombridge as exploration manager as it advances US critical minerals portfolio.

White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) has delivered outstanding metallurgical testwork results from the Danvers deposit within its Rae copper project.

Black Canyon’s (ASX:BCA) Wandanya project is shaping up as a rare high-grade source of manganese feedstock, after testwork achieved purities averaging about 40% manganese.

PolarX (ASX:PXX) has hit more thick, high-grade copper at Alaska’s Caribou Dome, with 2025 drilling extending the hyper-grade zone.

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) struck a stellar result of 78.7m at 4.34% total rare earth oxides and 0.75% niobium pentoxide from surface at the Araxá project.

True North Copper (ASX:TNC) is building on a recent resource upgrade with more drilling at the Cloncurry project’s Wallace North copper-gold deposit.

West Coast Silver (ASX:WCE) is set to begin a 1500m drill blitz targeting high-grade silver extensions beneath the historical Elizabeth Hill mine in WA.

LAST ORDERS

Dundas Minerals (ASX:DUN) has exercised and option to acquire the Rockland gold project, some 40km north of Kalgoorlie in WA.

The project sits on a granted mining lease with no prior modern mining, boasting historical drilling results of up to 3m at 10.2g/t gold from 109m and 2m at 5.6g/t gold from 74m, including 1m at 14.9 g/t gold from 80m.

Orthocell (ASX:OCC) has reviewed the potential impacts of proposed pharmaceutical tariffs from the US administration, concluding that it’s medical device Remplir will likely not be included within the tariff’s scope.

The company has already established a strong foothold in the US, with about 4,000 units of Remplir currently in-market, none of which are impacted by the proposed tariff measures.

Imagion Biosystems (ASX:IBX) has secured a short term funding facility of $300,000 from an investment fund managed by US-based C/M Capital Partners.

The funding will support IBX’s investigational new drug application for its MagSense first-of-its-class MRI imaging agent with the US FDA.