The S&P/ASX 200 opened 48.20 points, or 0.59%, higher at 8,260.40 points on Monday (30 September) on continued hopes that the Reserve Bank of Australia will join the wave of other countries cutting interest rates.
Materials led the charge up with a 9.37% gain, while energy shifted up 1.27%. Industrials, however, edged back 0.42%.
Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) was enjoying some investor interest with shares advancing 7.57%. Fellow lithium miner Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) also headed up in early trade, with a 4.46% tick up in its share price after revealing it has farewelled its maiden shipment of spodumene concentrate from its flagship Kathleen Valley operation.
Iron ore heavyweight Fortescue (ASX:FMG) rose 5.57%, while mineral sands producer Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) increased 3.78%.
On the opposite end of the ASX scale this morning were Gold Road Resources (ASX:GOR) and fellow gold miner Genesis Minerals (ASX:GMD), which edged back 2.01% and 1.40%, respectively.
Uranium explorer Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) also dipped on Monday morning with a 1.74% retreat along with mining services firm Monadelphous (ASX:MND), which slid 1.42%.
The lithium and iron ore players lost the most ground in the past 90 days, with Liontown down 89%, BHP (ASX:BHP) dropping 81% and Fortescue retreating 77%.
Over the last five days, the S&P/ASX 200 Index has gained 0.62%.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & Stock
