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The ASX200 closed the day down half a per cent.
As far as the sector performances, healthcare was the clear leader, picking up a per cent and financials just scraped into positive territory.
It was a big day for Strike Energy (STX) and Talon Energy (TPD) which began producing gas from the onshore Walyering gas field in Western Australia for sale via Santos’s Parmelia Gas Pipeline. Production will ramp up over the coming week. Firm sales deliveries to Santos are set to begin next month. The gas operations are a joint venture between Strike and Talon Energy. Talon holds 45 per cent of the project, however, it is on track to be acquired by Strike later this year.
Talon closed flat at 19 cents, while Strike closed the day at 40.5 cents.
In the green
Medical imaging software company Pro Medicus (PME) gained 12 per cent after subsidiary Visage Imaging attained a $140 million, decade-long contract with Baylor Scott & White Health – or BSWH – the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in Texas. The company’s cloud-engineered Visage 7 platform will be implemented throughout the BSWH.
PME closed the day at $80.61.
ANZ (ANZ) gained .45 of a per cent ‘despite’ news it’s been handed a $15 million civil penalty plus costs after admitting to ASIC it misled customers around fees on their credit card cash advances in some circumstances between November 2018 and September 2021. The bank has apologised to customers and accepted responsibility for what occurred.
ANZ closed the day at $25.09.
And Lithium developer Lake Resources (LKE) closed up three per cent after completing its lithium carbonate test program at Saltworks Technologies in Canada, with indications it could produce battery-grade lithium carbonate.
Lake delivered 120,000 litres of lithium chloride eluate for testing, from its Kachi project demonstration plant in Argentina.
The company remains on track for the completion of a DFS by the end of the year.
LKE closed the day at 17 cents.
In the red
Botanix Pharmaceuticals (BOT) took a 22 per cent dive after revealing there’ll be a delay of up to six months in getting its sofpironium bromide gel to market.
The US Food and Drug Administration has requested changes to box instructions for patients who use its gel for treating excessive sweating. Botanix will now meet with the FDA and resubmit its New Drug Application targeting approval by mid-next year.
Botanix closed the day at 14 cents.
And there was heavy selling of copper explorer American West Minerals (AW1) seeing it plummet nearly 40 per cent after it claimed it had discovered a new copper system at its Storm project in Canada. The company reported results for just three diamond drillholes, claiming to have discovered a large sediment-hosted copper system.
AW1 closed the day at 14 cents.
Qantas (QAN) was down nearly one and a half per cent after Qantas pilots wrote to new chief executive Vanessa Hudson calling for chairman Richard Goyder to step down after overseeing “one of the most damaging periods in (the airline’s) history”.
The airline’s share value is down more than 20 per cent over the past six months.
Qantas closed the day at $5.16.
