Weekly review: Aussie market continues to push higher

The Australian share market has continued its positive run, ending up 0.2% higher on Friday at a fresh nine-month high.

That rise in the ASX 200 index to 7452.2 points means the index has risen 1.7% in the past week and a hefty 5.8% this year.

Once again, booming commodity prices courtesy of a Chinese re-opening provided an updraft for coal, lithium and iron ore stocks and gold mining stocks have also been strongly supported.

That was shown in the prices of the big miners with Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) shares up almost 1% to $127.20 and BHP (ASX: BHP) shares closing up 0.5% at $49.95 on the back of a 1.9% rise in the price of iron ore.

Quarterly reports boost shares

A solid quarterly activities report from Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) saw its shares soar by 6.2% to $9.48 as it maintained guidance on production, sales and costs.

It wasn’t alone in positive reactions to trading updates with shares in Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS) up 13.2% to $4.55, Fisher & Paykel Health Care (ASX: FPH) shares up 4.9% to $24.32 and Yancoal (ASX: YAL) shares were up 4.7%.

Also helping to provide a positive backdrop was a rise in US futures after Netflix reported better growth in subscriber numbers than expected that pushed its shares up 7.1% in after-hours trading.

US markets have been slipping though and one big worry on the horizon – interest rates apart – is political wrangling over raising the debt ceiling.

Political trouble ahead over debt ceiling

The US Treasury Department is already taking “extraordinary measures” because the government has run up against its legal borrowing capacity and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to act to raise the debt limit.

While there are a number of accounting tricks that can keep the lights burning for some time, if the Republican’s continue the sort of brinksmanship that saw the charade of fifteen ballots before they elected their own Kevin McCarthy as speaker, then a debt crisis and even a bond default is not out of the question for the US.

That could have devastating effects on the global economy.

Small cap stock action

The Small Ords index gained 0.58% this week to close on 2985.6 points.

Small cap companies making headlines this week were:

Adelong Gold (ASX: ADG)

Recent drilling has generated positive results for Adelong Gold at the historic Gibraltar mine, within the Adelong project in New South Wales.

Best intersections were 1m at 4.99g/t gold from 11m; 3m at 12.57g/t gold from 20m, including 1m at 34.6g/t from 20m; 3m at 1.17g/t gold from 34m; 1m at 3.73g/t gold from 43m; 2m at 3.55g/t gold from 63m; and 1m at 1.6g/t gold from 70m.

Adelong managing director Peter Mitchell said the latest assays highlighted the potential for larger-scale mineralised structures at Gibraltar, which warrant further investigation.

He added that the company would now focus on bringing Gibraltar into the resource inventory for the Adelong gold project.

Riedel Resources (ASX: RIE)

Riedel Resources announced the first assay results from a 23-hole diamond drill program at its Kingman Project in Arizona, which confirm the presence of shallow high-grade gold.

Highlight results comprise 5.5m at 12.4g/t gold, 105g/t silver and 3.9% lead from 16.8m, including 1m at 47.9g/t gold, 266g/t silver and 10.5% lead from 17.1m, 0.6m at 74g/t gold, 410g/t silver and 15.2% lead from 17.1m, and 1.5m at 9.48g/t gold, 95g/t silver and 3.8% lead from 20.8m.

Assays are from drilling the Tintic mineralised zone, which is now confirmed to be 600m long, 150m wide, shallow and potentially very high grade.

Remaining assay results are anticipated in late January and February 2023, and Riedel will use all results to plan resource drilling for Tintic potentially commencing in the June quarter of this year.

ioneer (ASX: INR)

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has agreed to lend Australian company ioneer up to US$700m (A$1 billion) to build its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron project in Nevada.

This loan will be used to fund the construction of the project’s onsite lithium processing facility and is the first-ever DOE loan for financing of a mining project’s processing component where lithium is extracted and refined at site.

The deal is locked in at the 10-year US bond rate.

Meanwhile, joint venture partner Sibanye-Stillwater is making a contribution to secure a 50% interest in Rhyolite Ridge and both funds are expected to make a substantial part of the US$785m preliminary capital expenditure required for the project.

Splitit Payments (ASX: SPT)

Alipay and Splitit Payments partnered to offer a “Pay After Delivery” option, allowing AliExpress customers to pay for their orders with their current credit cards after delivery. The service will be introduced in Germany, France, and Spain and then rolled-out across other countries.

This collaboration makes use of Splitit’s Instalments-as-a-Service platform to build a distinctive user experience that is integrated into the AliExpress checkout process.

The agreement between Splitit and Alipay is effective immediately and will last indefinitely, unless it is terminated earlier.

Venus Metals (ASX: VMC)

Venus Metals has completed rock chip sampling at its Marvel Loch project in Western Australia and begun drilling at the Youanmi gold joint venture.

Analysis of 38 rock chips from Marvel Lock returned up to 4,365ppm TREO in monzogranite bedrock in the eastern target area of the tenement, with another sample taken from the western area assaying 2,292ppm TREO.

Venus said the assay results were around 10-to-20 times more than the average crustal abundance for TREO mineralisation, indicating the bedrock ground is “highly anomalous” for REE. A detailed aeromagnetic and radiometric survey is now in progress to locate further anomalies within the project’s 25km-long magnetic trend, while metallurgical work is underway to evaluate cost-effective beneficiation of the monzogranite bedrock REE using comminution and magnetic separation processes.

Over at the Younmi gold joint venture with Rox Resources, a 16,000m reverse circulation and 7,000m diamond drilling campaign has begun.

The program aims to update the project’s current resource and will continue through till April, with first assays anticipated next month.

Aston Minerals (ASX: ASO)

Aston Minerals has announced a maiden resource for Edleston Main and Sirola gold prospects, within its Edleston project in Ontario, Canada.

The initial resource totals 48.1Mt at 1g/t gold for 1.5Moz of contained metal.

This maiden estimate represents the culmination of a substantial exploration program undertaken by Aston between February 2021 through to December 2022.

Aston noted the resource represents only 2km of a total of 10km of prospective strike.

Edleston is also prospective for nickel and cobalt and the company also plans to publish the maiden estimate for these minerals before the end of the month.

The week ahead

The biggest announcement in Australia next week will be the consumer price index for the December quarter on Wednesday.

Despite Australia performing well compared to many other markets, that could all come undone should inflation rise by more than expected, with expectations that headline CPI will be 1.7 % higher for the quarter.

Other local announcements include the CommSec State of the States economic report, manufacturing and services data, consumer confidence and international trade.

Markets will be closed for the Australia Day holiday on Thursday.

Overseas many Asian markets will be closed for the Lunar New Year holidays while in the US the continuing profit reporting season will be instrumental in the performance of individual stocks and sectors.

There are also some manufacturing and services reports released along with economic growth figures for the December quarter.

This week’s top stocks