The ASX has made slight gains today.
The S&P/ASX200 is up 6.60 points today to 7,714.00. Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged but is currently around 1.85% below its 52-week high.
Top-performing stocks in this index are Bellevue Gold and Strike Energy, up 10.65% and 8.33% respectively.
Looking at the sectors, Energy was the worst performed down 0.73%, with Industrials and Communication Services also losing ground by 0.32% and 0.18% respectively.
Leading the way were Utilities and Information Technology which gained 0.93% and 0.89%.
Over on the small caps table, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries (XSO) gained 0.70% to 3,054.30. Over the past five days, it is 0.61% higher.
Confidence falls
“The latest NAB business confidence survey reported a slight increase in conditions and a fall in confidence,” writes CreditorWatch chief economist Anneke Thompson.
“Mirroring CreditorWatch’s Business Risk Index data, confidence was lowest in the retail, construction, mining and food and beverage sectors.
"Food and beverage, construction and mining make up three of our top four industries for external administrations, and while retail trade is performing relatively well according to our own insolvency and payment default data, conditions in that sector are negative, so we expect some worsening insolvency trends in retail trade going forward.
“In a worrying sign for future inflation data, final product and retail prices both increased over the month, suggesting businesses are still planning further price rises.
"Forward orders, however, are still trending down and are well below average, which means that while prices may rise slightly, businesses are preparing for consumers to be purchasing less, and for businesses to be ordering less.”
Five at five
Recce Pharmaceuticals dosing next cohort in phase I/II UTI/urosepsis rapid infusion clinical trial
Recce Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:RCE, OTC:RECEF) has commenced dosing the next cohort of human participants with RECCE® 327 (R327) at 3,000mg intravenously at a fast infusion rate of 20 minutes in its Phase I/II UTI/urosepsis clinical trial.
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Intra Energy Corp identifies multiple large lithium soil anomalies at Maggie Hays Hill
Intra Energy Corporation Ltd (ASX:IEC) identified three new lithium anomalies during recently completed soil sampling at the Maggie Hays Hill Project, in the Lake Johnston Greenstone Belt in Western Australia.
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Flynn Gold identifies large, high-priority lithium target at Lake Johnson
Flynn Gold Ltd (ASX:FG1) has identified a large, high-priority lithium target in first-pass soil sampling at its 100%-owned Lake Johnston Lithium Project in Western Australia.
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Anteris Technologies continues to exceed market leader values with updated 30-day DurAVR™ THV Clinical Data
Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) has continued to improve the outcome value results of its DurAVR™ transcatheter heart valve (THV) designed to restore normal blood flow in aortic stenosis, a serious, life-threatening heart condition which occurs when there is a narrowing of the aortic valve.
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Strickland Metals combines Palomino and Clydesdale into large-scale gold target
Strickland Metals Ltd (ASX:STK) has revealed strong evidence in a review and modelling of recent drilling data that the Palomino and Clydesdale prospects at the Yandal Gold Project in Western Australia are part of the same mineralised system.
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The one to watch
Premier1 Lithium confirms continuity of pegmatites at Abbots North
Premier1 Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLC) CEO Richard Taylor joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to share results from the company's initial drilling at Abbotts North.
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On your six
Reddit seeks US$6.5 billion valuation in IPO; shares to go to community members
Reddit is seeking a US$6.5 billion valuation ahead of its Initial Public Offering (IPO). The move comes after a failed 2021 bid, however, the company feels it is now in a stronger position to ride the Artificial Intelligence (AI) wave.
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