Closing Bell: ASX puts the couch on Gumtree as retailers, miners and energy sag

• ASX slides 0.43% as energy, miners and retailers have a Thursday
• Nick Scali tanks on weak profit guidance as shoppers sit on their wallets
• Resources get pantsed while tech somehow keeps its trousers on

The ASX spent Thursday giving back some of yesterday’s half-decent work.

By the closing clang the index was down 0.43%, with miners, energy and retailers letting the side down.

Nick Scali (ASX:NCK) was the standout mess, dropping about 16% after warning first-half profit could fall to $28m-$32m as shoppers kept their wallets closed.

The furniture pain spread to Temple & Webster (ASX:TPW) (Hi, Gregor) and Harvey Norman Holdings (ASX:HVN), while Fortescue (ASX:FMG) also took a hit as its standoff with China’s iron ore buying agency started leaving more tonnes unsold.

Energy stocks joined in despite Brent crude hanging around US$110 a barrel, with Woodside and Santos both lower.

Which was a bit rude, given Wall Street had actually had a decent night.

SpaceX jumped around 10% after monster earnings gave the AI trade a fresh sugar hit, Tesla also rallied, and chip stocks remembered what green bars on charts look like again.

Back here, though, investors had other priorities: expensive couches, expensive oil, expensive money and whether anyone still wants iron ore at the advertised price.

TLDR on all that? Wall Street got its groove back. The ASX put half the shop on sale.

Here’s what else caught our eye…

DeepSeek has raised about US$15bn in one of China’s biggest-ever funding rounds as it gears up for an IPO. CATL and Tencent are among the backers. Just a lazy US$15-bill… nothing to see here.

Meta has been ordered to pay US$25bn after a New Mexico jury found it misled Facebook users over privacy and content moderation. The shares rose anyway. Twenty-five bill? Market says whatevz.

Elon Musk is still kicking around the idea of merging Tesla and SpaceX, with both companies reportedly forming committees to explore a deal. Put wheels on the rocket. Sorted.

UK inflation jumped to 3.5% in September, the highest in almost a year, and markets are now pricing in a November rate hike. Keep calm and… sell a kidney?

And… oil stayed around US$110 after deadly attacks on a Saudi oil field and airport, even as Gulf exports kept flowing. Business as extremely unusual.

Movers and Shakeouts

As already noted above, but we’ll say it again anyway, the ASX 200 finished 0.43% lower, with energy, miners and retailers doing most of the damage.

Industrials were the best of it, up 0.90%, while real estate added 0.76%, telcos 0.52% and financials 0.44%. Staples, healthcare, utilities and tech also scraped into the green.

At the other end, energy fell 2.42%, materials lost 1.96% and discretionary dropped 1.72%.

The index split was ugly for the smaller and resource-heavy end: the Resources index fell 2.10%, gold stocks lost 1.95% and the Small Ordinaries dropped 0.48%. The All Technology Index rose 0.92%, while banks gained 0.39%.

TLDR on that? Miners and energy went arse over. Tech stayed weirdly upright.

ASX Leaders

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

Code Name Last % Change Volume Market Cap AYM Australia United Min 0.002 100% 836553 $1,842,577 ENV Enova Mining Limited 0.0015 50% 1826665 $2,277,609 PRM Prominence Energy 0.0015 50% 1060000 $2,707,667 SKN Skin Elements Ltd 0.003 50% 530098 $7,018,668 HIQ Hitiq Limited 0.004 33% 973719 $3,476,800 ZMM Zimi Ltd 0.004 33% 52250 $3,449,511 RGT Argent Biopharma Ltd 0.034 26% 76446 $3,182,209 EXR Elixir Energy Ltd 0.069 25% 7101270 $109,856,233 AXP AXP Energy Ltd 0.005 25% 16511283 $1,798,934 RLG Roolife Group Ltd 0.005 25% 18890327 $9,249,982 RIE Riedel Resources Ltd 0.021 24% 147058 $8,036,153 RWL Rubicon Water 0.27 23% 52738 $53,754,445 CMD Cassius Mining Ltd 0.017 21% 2736834 $12,764,050 SRR Saramaresourcesltd 0.029 21% 3448 $9,605,406 INF Infinity Metals Ltd 0.006 20% 91936 $3,537,320 PR1 Pureresourceslimited 0.245 20% 41588 $14,670,441 NME Nex Metals Explorat 0.013 18% 7857 $3,759,620 BM8 Battery Age Minerals 0.035 17% 204551 $6,644,327 EMU EMU NL 0.014 17% 297000 $4,865,972 CTD Corp Travel Limited 3.82 16% 4240524 $457,102,473 NXN Nexsen Limited 0.15 15% 479177 $12,059,592 ACM Aus Critical Mineral 0.023 15% 15000 $2,999,628 TAR Taruga Minerals 0.023 15% 1508583 $20,303,790 LBL Laserbond Limited 0.62 15% 355364 $64,247,966 BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.004 14% 4464368 $10,541,908

In the news…

AXP Energy (ASX:AXP) has its Oklahoma gas-to-power operation humming along, running more than 95% of the time over the past month. It’s turning gas into electricity for data mining equipment.

The company reckons it could roll out more setups if its planned acquisition of seven nearby wells goes ahead and delivers enough gas, with work on those wells targeted for November.

Tambourah Metals (ASX:TMB) has struck some cracking gold grades at its Baxters South prospect in WA, including 4m at 41.7g/t gold from 55m and a deeper 3m at 35.5g/t from 169m.

The deeper hit is a new discovery in fresh rock, and Tambourah is planning more drilling to see how far the gold stretches.

ASX Laggards

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

Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap AOA Ausmon Resorces 0.001 -33% 130000 $2,028,920 RDS Redstone Resources 0.002 -33% 500000 $3,914,945 VEN Vintage Energy 0.001 -33% 499000 $3,660,504 PFT Pure Foods Tas Ltd 0.017 -26% 50000 $7,878,526 MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.003 -25% 4406303 $15,127,875 SPX Spenda Limited 0.0015 -25% 37743 $2,477,802 BVR Bellavistaresources 0.225 -22% 4964721 $62,632,524 EGY Energy Tech Ltd 0.036 -22% 2445941 $28,736,157 HYT Hyterra Ltd 0.004 -20% 1885000 $10,714,390 M2M Mtmalcolmminesnl 0.004 -20% 6703099 $3,967,333 PV1 Provaris Energy Ltd 0.004 -20% 15611199 $5,981,812 PMM Pioneerminerals Ltd 0.225 -20% 1451654 $20,970,888 4DS 4Ds Memory Limited 0.005 -17% 7938411 $16,658,794 EXT Excite Technology 0.005 -17% 3061089 $16,578,989 RKB Rokeby Resources Ltd 0.0025 -17% 69444 $8,930,190 STV Swift TV Ltd 0.005 -17% 1000000 $8,702,012 PL3 Patagonia Lithium 0.08 -16% 78666 $31,134,560 BTR Brightstar Resources 0.565 -16% 16402417 $742,424,215 EGA Eastern Gas Corp 0.135 -16% 30342 $4,400,000 TTT Titomic Limited 0.11 -15% 5053407 $232,303,941 NCK Nick Scali Limited 12.03 -15% 2301971 $1,215,391,233 NGS NGS Ltd 0.017 -15% 163244 $19,280,827 VBS Vectus Biosystems 0.09 -14% 70759 $6,529,220 1AD Adalta Limited 0.003 -14% 410647 $11,242,592 DM1 Desert Metals 0.006 -14% 283333 $4,682,152

In Case You Missed It

Albion Resources (ASX:ALB) has expanded its Gidgee exploration tenure as drilling accelerates.

Arika Resources (ASX:ARI) has secured EIS co-funding ahead of fresh gold-copper drilling.

Nova Minerals (ASX:NVA) has welcomed US government investment in rail infrastructure near its Alaska operations.

Power Minerals (ASX:PNN) has hit more rare earth mineralisation 240m down at Morro do Ferro.

Recce Pharmaceuticals (ASX:RCE) has signed an Australia and New Zealand licensing deal for its diabetic foot infection gel.

Tambourah Metals (ASX:TMB) has reported high-grade hits at Baxters South that add to its gold potential.

TrivarX (ASX:TRI) has taken another step towards a trial of its next-generation cancer imaging technology.

Trading Halts

Accelerate Resources (ASX:AX8) – capital raise
Invex Therapeutics (ASX:IXC) – acquisition and capital raise
Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM) – acquisition and capital raise

One More Thing…

Today is apparently also known as InternationalCAPS Lock Day.

SMALL LETTERS CAN GO AND GET STUFFED.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While the companies listed in In Case You Missed It are all Stockhead advertisers at the time of writing, they did not sponsor this article. 

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