The ASX200 has been trading up 0.18 per cent to just above 7,745 points – not by the nearly half a per cent tipped before the market opened this morning.
The Industrials sector has made the greatest gains, edging up close to a per cent and Utilities has added about 0.90 per cent. The energy sector has been a drag today, shedding well over a per cent.
In new data from the ABS and a positive pointer towards interest rate cuts, household spending is down, with consumers cutting back.
Some of the top performers today include Zip Co (ASX:Zip), 29 Metals (ASX:29M), and Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN), which have all lifted more than 11.5 per cent without a market announcement.
Biopharmaceutical company Immuron (ASX:IMC) has surged more than 100 per cent on its diarrhea drug candidate Travelan progressing to Phase 3 registration with the FDA.
The company received AUD$4.8 million funding from the US Department of Defence for a phase 2 controlled human infection study. The study demonstrated a 36.4 per cent protective efficacy against moderate to severe episodes.
IMC has been trading at 13.5 cents.
Polymetals explorer Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) is up more than 5 per cent after a review of historical data identified uranium targets at its Bresnahan project in WA.
A dozen untested uranium targets were established from data from the company Cameco dating back to the early 2000s.
Surface sampling on the uranium targets will begin next month.
DRE has been trading at 2 cents.
And Fenix Resources (ASX:FEX) has gained a per cent after shipping its first batch of iron ore from its WA-based Twin Peaks project, northeast of Geraldton.
The first shipment was more than 59,200 tonnes of 60 per cent direct shipping ore.
The company already has the Iron Ridge Iron Ore mine in WA’s Mid-West.
FEX has been trading at 23.8 cents.
