The S&P/ASX 200 index rose by 1% to 8,881.1 points today, with critical minerals developer IperionX (ASX:IPX) among the top-performing stocks.
Iperion’s share price increased by 7.74% to $5.15, while Westar Resources (ASX:WSR) rose 16.67% to $0.007 per unit in the first hour of trading on the Australian Securities Exchange.
E79 Gold Mines (ASX:E79) rose by 14.82% to $0.031, while Aruma Resources (ASX:AAJ) gained 9.09% to $0.012 per unit.
The index had earlier recovered for the first time on 1 May, ending an 11-day losing streak. 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).
“Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.48% and is currently 3.5% off of its 52-week high,” the ASX markets website says.
As Mining.com.au previously reported, the index reported a third year of “positive returns” during 2025, despite “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 large-cap stocks have led the recent gains in the ASX index.
“Looking at the market map … the big performers are all the index heavyweights, so it looks like broad-based buying of the Australian share market,” Moomoo Market Strategist Michael McCarthy tells the Australian Associated Press.
“We have been under pressure, and I think local investors have behaved rationally in that they sought a higher risk premium with lower share prices due to the [Iran-Israel] geopolitical conflict,” he adds, according to the newswire agency.
Write to Richard Szabo at Mining.com.au
Images: Marcus Reubenstein via Unsplash
