Is it the end of the world as we know it? Not for the ASX, it seems.
After hitting record all-time highs on Wednesday, the market took a breather on Thursday and Friday, pulling back just 0.75 per cent as Israel - and by extension the United States - seemingly declared war on Iran.
The market said ‘no problemo’ to the news, instead piling into oil as the Brent price surged as much as 18 per cent on Friday morning to US$78.50 (A$121) a barrel.
Try not to worry about World War III. Instead, make sure to fill up at the bowser today, as it won’t be pretty come tomorrow morning.
Aside from a surging oil price, military attacks on an OPEC member and nuclear powerhouse result in safe haven spending, of course, with the gold price up more than US$100 to US$3430 an ounce to end the week.
Bulls N’ Bears’ ASX Runners of the Week list was a mixed bag, with juniors only just holding out major Woodside Energy – which saw its share price go up a staggering 7 per cent on Friday – to surprisingly feature no oil and gas stocks at all. This week’s podium went to a junior AI solutions provider that partnered with a global revolutionary robotics developer while simultaneously raising capital for its partner at a premium.
ICETANA LIMITED (ASX: ICE)
Up 169% (1.6c – 4.3c)
This week’s Bulls N’ Bears ASX Runner of the Week is AI analytics solution provider Icetana Limited, which sent the market into a state on Tuesday after sealing four blockbuster agreements with SoftBank Robotics Group.
The company’s share price soared a cheeky 131 per cent from 1.6 cents last week to an intraday high of 3.7c.
The company wasn’t quite done there, making a late lunge at the line on Friday to hit 4.3c per share at the death, up 169 per cent on the week. That clinched Runners’s top podium spot.
The global subscription agreement with the US$74 (A$114) billion tech titan comes in the form of a Japan-exclusive distribution deal and joint development scope with SoftBank.
Icetana will rack up a substantial $3.6 million in contract value, with SoftBank stepping up as the company’s sole distributor in Japan, guaranteeing $693,000 in annual recurring revenue.
The partnership didn’t stop there. SoftBank put its money where its mouth is and tossed in a $1.87M investment to soak up a 17.6 per cent stake in Icetana at a juicy 2c per share. That represents a 33 per cent premium over the company’s 15-day average price of 1.5c a share.
Add to that a three-year, $1.08M R&D program to fuse Icetana’s self-learning security AI with SoftBank’s automation wizardry, and you’ve got a recipe for serious growth.
With SoftBank’s clout opening doors across Japan’s enterprise and public sectors and Icetana’s AI analytics poised to revolutionise large-scale surveillance, this partnership is likely a tech match made in heaven.
While other companies haggle over discount fees, Icetana’s scored a big win - a move that no doubt has shareholders pinching themselves and sending management a fruit basket.
RESOLUTION MINERALS LTD (ASX: RML)
Up 133% (1.8c – 4.2c)
Runner-up Runner of the Week is critical minerals maverick Resolution Minerals, which stormed the boards after snapping up the Horse Heaven polymetallic project in Idaho, reflecting the market’s love affair with gold and antimony - this time in the Trump tariff-free United States.
Resolution’s latest pickup has a cocktail of critical minerals and precious metals, and is regarded as prospective for antimony, gold, tungsten and silver. The project is snugly next to a recent US executive order benefactor in Perpetua Resources’ $2 billion Stibnite gold-antimony mine - the US’s biggest known antimony stash.
The company boasts its latest foray has two red-hot prospects in the 1.2-kilometre Antimony Ridge Fault zone and the 3.5km Golden Gate Fault zone.
The project packs a non-JORC compliant resource of 7.25 million tonnes at 0.93 grams per tonne (g/t) for 216,000 ounces of gold at Golden Gate Hill, and a further 3.17Mt at 0.69g/t for 70,000 ounces at Antimony Hill.
Historical drilling has dished up promising chunky intersections, including 85.34m at 0.94g/t gold and rock chips peaking at 3.68g/t gold, 367g/t silver and 19.15 per cent antimony.
The project was accompanied by a handy $1.9M capital raising at 1.3c per share through Oakley Capital, which pocketed the industry-standard 6 per cent raising fee, plus 69M shares and 72M options for facilitating the deal. The ‘free’ shares alone were worth a hefty $897,000 at the raise price.
The market didn’t bat an eyelid, sending the company’s share price soaring 28 per cent when trade resumed on Wednesday morning. It then got the ball seriously rolling, peaking at 4.2c on Friday - up 133 per cent from last week - with aboute $10M in stock trading hands.
Hot on the heels of its Runners bronze place finish for its Aussie antimony-gold projects earlier this year, Resolution snagged silver this week thanks to the tariff-war darlings of antimony and tungsten.
Perhaps Resolution’s US critical minerals gamble will one day earn it a gold medal, but this week the real winners were Icetana and the good people at Oakley Capital.
Highfield Resources’ hopes to revive the company’s mammoth Muga potash project in Spain after more than three years of shareholder struggles. Credit: File
HIGHFIELD RESOURCES LTD (ASX: HFR)
Up 83% (12c – 22c)
The final Runner and third-place taker is potash developer Highfield Resources, which clawed its way back from the brink with an 83 per cent bounce this week. The company rocketed from a 12c-a-share close last week to a 22c peak on Thursday, as the market looked for bargain-basement pickups on the mammoth Muga potash project in Spain.
Once a $400 million darling, Highfield’s share price had been pummelled over the past three years, falling from a high of $1.25 to below 10c just last week.
It has been battered by a drawn-out investment saga with the Foreign Investment Review Board, while Chinese heavyweights have circled its flagship Muga potash mine. This week, those clouds parted.
The market hopes a funding jackpot to fast-track Muga’s US$479M development will allow it to produce a massive 1 million tonnes per annum of muriate of potash fertiliser across more than three decades of mine life.
Earlier this year, Hong Kong-based Yuankuang Energy Group committed to a huge US$220M equity raise in Highfield at 50c per share, pending multiple international approvals.
A lowly share price and numerous recent board resignations suggest the deal is decidedly on the fritz. But with Muga’s low-capex, high-margin design and permits in hand, the company could at last be making a comeback.
While the sunset date on an implementation agreement between Yuankuang and Highfield is set for June 30, the project still retains plenty of its former promise. Shareholders are no doubt hoping this beleaguered battler can look more like a phoenix rising under new management in the second half of the year.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
