Lunch Wrap: Airlines soar as oil plunges, punters saddle up for the Cup

• Oil crashes, Qantas takes off
• Gold shines as energy gets belted
• RBA to make rates call as Cup fever takes hold

The S&P/ASX 200 was up slightly by lunchtime on Tuesday in Sydney, as plunging oil prices gave investors something to smile about.

Unless, of course, they owned energy stocks.

Wall Street had a mixed night after oil took a 7% nosedive to around US$96 a barrel, its biggest fall since July.

The reason was Washington and Tehran suddenly appearing interested in talking rather than blowing things up.

Back home this morning, energy stocks were down around 3% in early trade. No prizes for guessing why.

Qantas (ASX:QAN) jumped 6% as cheaper fuel promised some relief for airline margins. Virgin Australia (ASX:VGN) also flew by 7%.

Whether passengers will see cheaper tickets is another matter. Airlines aren’t exactly famous for sharing the chocolates.

Miners were having a better time, too.

Gold surged as much as 2.5% overnight as falling oil eased inflation fears, making further rate hikes look less threatening.

Meanwhile, Australia’s biggest annual excuse to ignore work had arrived.

Even Macquarie Group’s (ASX:MQG) quants got involved, according to AFR, picking Point of Law to win using two mathematical models.

The bank correctly tipped the winners in 2023 and 2025.

And finally… the RBA delivers its rate decision at 2.30pm AEDT today, with another 25bp hike to 4.85% widely expected.

In large cap news…

Arena REIT (ASX:ARF) gained 2% after lifting its FY27 distribution guidance to 20 cents a share, helped by progress cleaning up its troubled Edge childcare portfolio.

The upgrade still depends on approvals and lease transfers.

And, AMP (ASX:AMP) had another 7% tumble after Barrenjoey downgraded it to neutral, following yesterday’s 7.5% hammering.

At this rate, shareholders might need a seatbelt.

ASX LEADERS

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

Security Description Last % Volume MktCap ENV Enova Mining Limited 0.002 50% 49,000 $2,277,609 FHS Freehill Mining Ltd. 0.002 50% 1,400 $4,666,520 OVT Ovanti Limited 0.002 50% 17,870 $1,331,674 VEN Vintage Energy 0.002 50% 508,332 $2,440,336 BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.004 33% 853,176 $9,035,921 RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp. 0.004 33% 19,024,862 $7,647,620 CBY Canterbury Resources 0.036 33% 176,397 $7,935,925 TAT Tartana Minerals Ltd 0.011 22% 488,115 $3,911,461 AEM Advanceengineered 0.360 20% 68,421 $109,761,261 AAU Antilles Gold Ltd 0.006 20% 10,000 $18,880,041 AUV Auravelle Metals 0.006 20% 166,666 $4,619,405 PL9 Prairie Lithium Ltd 0.006 20% 3,932,275 $28,901,572 QXR Qx Resources Limited 0.003 20% 180,000 $5,396,658 RPM RPM Automotive Group 0.013 18% 707,071 $2,996,651 CLA Celsius Resource Ltd 0.004 17% 1,089 $11,184,074 LAC LAC Gold Ltd 0.275 15% 2,631 $51,577,535 NVA Nova Minerals 0.550 15% 458,354 $104,974,767 ERL Empire Resources 0.008 14% 894,817 $14,609,991 FIN FIN Resources Ltd 0.004 14% 15,623 $6,659,296 WHK Whitehawk Limited 0.004 14% 800,000 $4,896,483 RMI Resource Minerals 0.120 14% 290,525 $99,919,036 DTR Dateline Resources 0.077 13% 9,087,135 $272,974,806 NHE Nobleheliumlimited 0.026 13% 1,225,271 $30,460,455 GGR Goldengloberesources 0.180 13% 10,994 $17,885,668 JNS Januselectricholding 0.540 13% 1,761,568 $81,765,313

Auravelle Metals (ASX:AUV) has wrapped up the sale of its Skeleton Rocks project in WA to Forrestania Resources with a final instalment of 681,414 shares valued at $250,000.

The deal lets it focus on its Nuckulla Hill gold discoveries in SA and Crown project near Kalgoorlie, while keeping a stake in any future upside through its Forrestania shares.

Noble Helium (ASX:NHE) is getting closer to drilling its Kinambo-1 helium well in Tanzania, with its drilling rig making the 1500km journey from Kenya and operations expected to kick off in November.

It has also secured specialist testing equipment from SLB to collect the underground data needed for a planned independent resource assessment, a key step in figuring out how much helium might be there.

Janus Electric Holdings (ASX:JNS) is stepping up its US electric truck push, lodging another 16 California incentive applications while expanding its approved conversion technology to 39 truck models and 920 configurations.

It now has a North American order book of 124 truck conversions worth around $64.6 million, plus more than 240 potential conversions in the pipeline.

ASX LAGGARDS

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

Security Description Last % Volume MktCap NAE New Age Exploration 0.001 -50% 3,529,372 $8,684,525 RAD Radiopharm 0.003 -40% 23,585,920 $23,554,414 T3D 333D Limited 0.023 -34% 40,667 $7,398,842 BEO Beonic Ltd 0.075 -25% 15,001 $10,547,455 AGN Argenica 0.100 -23% 84,000 $16,699,373 ZNO Zoono Group Ltd 0.038 -19% 136,263 $19,393,235 OLI Oliver'S Real Food 0.005 -17% 243,302 $3,244,392 WMG Western Mines 0.130 -16% 8,182 $20,207,586 CC5 Clever Culture 0.016 -16% 1,400,643 $41,462,848 BDX Bcaldiagnostics 0.070 -15% 7,500 $30,232,030 AMS Atomos 0.006 -14% 34,323 $10,424,155 FUL Fulcrum Lithium 0.060 -14% 5,000 $5,285,000 TXR Talonxresources Ltd 0.006 -14% 2,892,309 $6,523,978 FEG Far East Gold 0.100 -13% 531,272 $47,958,157 SBZ Schoolblazer Ltd 0.100 -13% 417,604 $60,424,675 CYP Cynata Therapeutics 0.010 -13% 687,221 $2,822,725 OLY Olympio Metals Ltd 0.021 -13% 109 $5,786,373 NTD Ntaw Holdings Ltd 0.185 -12% 15,399 $35,276,529 SRN Surefire Rescs NL 0.015 -12% 1,280 $3,845,175 QML Qmines Limited 0.053 -12% 1,587,445 $46,319,488 AER Aeeris Ltd 0.062 -11% 1,428 $5,487,920 SIX Sprintex Ltd 0.056 -11% 363,086 $45,679,467 D3E D3 Energy Limited 0.200 -11% 1,500 $34,167,647 HMG Hamelingoldlimited 0.160 -11% 182,524 $44,979,331 GT1 Greentechnology 0.016 -11% 1,714,620 $21,690,492

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) has launched a rights issue targeting up to $5.2m for Austrian production upgrades, gas testing and drilling.

Mount Ridley Mines (ASX:MRD) has recovered 96% vanadium from third-party titanomagnetite using Selectro, alongside titanium and iron.

Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM) has prioritised Hero for exploration under its proposed acquisition of APT Tungsten’s five-project Utah portfolio.

RareX (ASX:REE) has confirmed copper-nickel sulphides and gallium-rich regolith at Khaleesi’s Niobe prospect, with geophysical surveying to guide further drilling.

LAST ORDERS

ClearVue Technologies (ASX:CPV) has established a Hong Kong regional office and working showroom to support commercial growth across the Greater Bay Area and Southern China. 

The company has submitted design proposals for 15 regional project opportunities, with its local team aiming to convert these into contracts. 

The office will formally open on November 4, following September’s deployment of its photovoltaic window technology at a Macau hotel.

Evion Group (ASX:EVG) has completed a drone magnetic survey at its Carp fluorspar project in Nevada, adding detail to known geological structures and identifying others to guide maiden drill planning. 

Interpretation will combine the magnetic results with other exploration data. Rock-chip assays are due throughout November, followed by a surface geochemical survey by year-end and preparations for drill permitting in early 2027.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While the companies listed in Last Orders and In Case You Missed It are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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