Titanium alloys and critical minerals producer IperionX (ASX:IPX) and clean energy company NexGen Energy (ASX:NXG) were top-performing stocks on the S&P/ASX 200 index today, which rose by 0.68% to 8,724.6, snapping an 11-day losing streak.
Iperion’s share price increased by 13.17% to $4.64, while NexGen grew by 6.59% to $17.39 per unit in the first hour of the Australian Securities Exchange opening for trade.
Gold explorer and developer Gorilla Gold Mines (ASX:GG8) rose by 10.45% to $0.37, while Antilles Gold (ASX:AAU) also jumped by 8.33% to $0.013 per unit.
The index recovered for the first time in 11 consecutive days. After a 0.29% decline between 20 and 21 April, it dropped a further 0.44%–0.45% from 22 to 23 April. A 0.29% fall on 24 April was followed by a sharper slump of 0.62% on 27 April, taking the index to 8,732.1 points. Losses continued on 28 April (–0.74% to 8,701.1), 29 April (–0.47% to 8,670), and 30 April (–0.4% to 8,652.1 points).
“The index has lost 0.7% for the last five days but is virtually unchanged year to date.,” the ASX markets website says.
As Mining.com.au previously reported, the index reported a third year of “positive returns” during 2025 despite “some concerns about the state of the world”.
“Big option trades using longer-dated contracts we found in January appear to be looking for continuation of this upward trend in 2026,” the ASX says.
Analysts agree that it has been a “soft week” of underperforming shares.
“One side of it is quite domestic in nature, the other side of it is obviously markets discounting potential growth risks because of the war in the Middle East,” Capital.com senior market analyst Kyle Rodda tells the Australian Associated Press.
“Overall, we are underperforming and certainly not duplicating the record highs that we have seen clocked up on Wall Street,” he adds, according to the newswire agency.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Australian Securities Exchange via Facebook
