Melbourne is turning up the heat with a warm arvo today followed by a 39 degree scorcher tomorrow. Starting to feel like summer at last!
Across Markets…
The Australian sharemarket swung into the red on Tuesday as investors shrugged off a positive lead from Wall Street and a $13 billion offer for BlueScope Steel and sold off the major banks.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.5 per cent, or 45.8 points, to 8682.8 at the closing bell, with nine out of the 11 sectors recording losses. The gauge initially rallied as much as 0.3 per cent, buoyed by a strong session on Wall Street that had pushed the Dow Jones to a record high.
Heavyweights ExxonMobil and Chevron both surged in New York trading, on optimism that the US-led change of leadership in Venezuela would allow the companies to access the world’s largest oil reserves. Locally listed energy stocks also edged up as Woodside Energy added 0.8 per cent to $23.52 and Santos 0.3 per cent to $6.10,
Oil and M&A
“A smooth political transition could see higher volumes of Venezuelan oil hit the market but result in only a modest fall in oil prices,” said ANZ commodities strategist Daniel Hynes in a note to clients.
“We see heightened levels of political instability as the more likely scenario. This would see the risk of supply disruptions remain elevated in the short term.”
In local news, BlueScope rocketed 21 per cent to $29.54 after industrials conglomerate SGH Ltd confirmed it had launched a bid with Nasdaq-listed Steel Dynamics to acquire and split the country’s largest steel maker. Shares of SGH rallied 4.5 per cent to $48.60.
Source: AFR
What comes next as Altech wins 30% funding for CERENERGY from Germany?
Altech Batteries (ASX: ATC) has received binding conditional approval for up to $80.4 million in funding from the German federal government for the construction of its CERENERGY sodium-chloride solid-state battery manufacturing facility in Saxony.
The approval falls under the nation’s STARK economic development program and covers approximately 30% of the project’s capital expenditure.
Funding is conditional on Altech achieving full project financial close by end June 2026 as well as parliamentary approval of the funds under Germany’s federal budget.
Significant milestone
Altech’s newly-appointed managing director Daniel Raihani said the funding represented a significant milestone for the planned 120 megawatt-hours battery factory.
“Securing conditional approval reflects the strategic importance of establishing an advanced, non-lithium energy-storage manufacturing capability in Europe and recognizes our technical progress achieved to date in collaboration with Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (Fraunhofer IKTS),” he said.
“Importantly, this grant materially de-risks the project’s capital structure by covering approximately 30% of eligible investment costs and provides a strong foundation as we move toward full project financing and construction.”
He said the company was focused on advancing CERENERGY technology toward commercial deployment to support long-duration, safe and sustainable stationary energy storage solutions for the European market.
Refreshed board
Mr Raihani is part of a refreshed executive line-up for Altech, focused on accelerating commercialisation pathways for the CERENERGY and silumina anodes projects in collaboration with established battery manufacturers, industrial technology groups, chemical producers, or government-supported programs.
The new board of directors aims to secure one or more qualified strategic partners who can contribute capital, technical resources, and market access to advance the projects towards commercial reality.
UPS technology
Altech’s board also plans to reassess the strategic rationale and economic merit of a recent distribution arrangement for sodium-nickel-chloride UPS (uninterruptible power supply) batteries, produced by global energy solutions company AMPower.
The company completed the final engineering design for the UPS system in November and is preparing for testing and real-world deployment to validate its electrical performance, safety features, communication protocols and mechanical integration.
Source: SmallCaps
Company: Locksley Resources Ltd (ASX:LKY)
Sector: REE & Antimony/Mining
Deal Type: Placement
Latest Entry Price: $0.04
Today’s Price Change: $0.19 -7.32%
Company: CuFe Ltd (ASX:CUF)
Sector: Copper/Mining
Deal Type: Placement
Latest Entry Price: $0.016 with 1:2 option, strike $0.025
Today’s Price Change: $0.032 +10.34%
Company: Tasman Resources Ltd (ASX:TAS)
Sector: Gold/Silver/Mining
Deal Type: Placement
Latest Entry Price: $0.0125 with 1:2 option, strike $0.02
Today’s Price Change: $0.027 +28.57%
Company: Tambourah Metals Ltd (ASX:TMB)
Sector: Gold/Mining
Deal Type: Placement
Latest Entry Price: $0.04
Today’s Price Change: $0.050 +2.04%
Company: Eclipse Metals Ltd (ASX:EPM)
Sector: REE
Deal Type: Placement
Latest Entry Price: $0.015
Today’s Price Change: $0.024 Unchanged
Company: Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:NEU)
Sector: Biotech
Deal Type: On-market purchase
Latest Entry Price: $1.20 – $1.50
Today’s Price Change: $18.81 -1.10%
Company: Dimerix Ltd (ASX:DXB)
Sector: Biotech
Deal Type: Rights Issue
Raise Amount: $800,000
Latest Entry Price: $0.08 with 1:1 option, strike $0.126
Today’s Price Change: $0.54 -2.7%
Sector: Blockchain
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $1M
Latest Entry Price: $0.02 with 1:1 option $0.08 strike
Today’s Price Change: $0.020 Unchanged
Company: Critica Limited (ASX:CRI)
Sector: REE
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $1M
Latest Entry Price: $0.0075 with a 1:1 CRIO
Today’s Price Change: $0.025 -3.85%
Sector: Lithium
Deal Type: IPO
Raise Amount: $8.6M
Latest Entry Price: $0.09 with 1:2 PL3O
Today’s Price Change: $0.064 +1.59%
Sector: Cybersecurity & AI
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $1.7M
Latest Entry Price: $0.01 with 1:3 option $0.02 strike
Today’s Price Change: $0.008 Unchanged
Sector: Gold/Mining
Deal Type: Placement
Raise Amount: $2.3M
Latest Entry Price: $0.026 with 1:2 option $0.032 strike
Today’s Price Change: $0.050 Unchanged
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