ASX Today — Live ASX News | XJO Rises, Consumer Sentiment Rebounds, Evergreen Lithium Debuts

Another lithium junior has joined the ASX ranks.

On Tuesday, Evergreen Lithium (ASX:EG1) debuted on the Aussie bourse following the completion of a $7 million IPO, issuing 28 million shares at 25 cents a share.

The stock traded as high as 30.5 cents in morning trade before retreating to 28 cents by the afternoon.

Evergreen now has a cash balance of about $10 million to spend on its Bynoe flagship project, a 231 square kilometre prospect adjacent to Core Lithium’s (ASX:CXO) Finniss project in the Northern Territory.

Evergreen describes itself as Core’s neighbour, saying Bynoe ‘exhibits many of the geological features that were key to the Finniss discovery. Through methodical exploration and learning from Core’s regional experience, the Company hopes to emulate their success.’

EG1 also owns the Fortune (NT) and Kenny (WA) projects but considers Bynoe its ‘standout asset’.

Another #lithium junior has joined the #ASX.

Evergreen Lithium $EG1 has raised $7 million at 25 cents a share to fund exploration at Bynoe, its flagship project adjacent to $CXO's Finniss operation.#ASX #ausbiz $EG1.AX pic.twitter.com/hWIhnnmDQE

— Fat Tail Daily (@FatTailDaily) April 11, 2023

Respiratory imaging technology firm 4DMedical (ASX:4DX) is up over 130% since Wednesday last week and is surging 35% today.

Last Wednesday, 4DX announced it signed its first US hospital SaaS contract with the University of Miami spanning five years.

The contract is to provide the university XV LVAS (X-ray velocimetry lung ventilation analysis software) ventilation reports.

Source: Google Finance

4DMedical chief executive and founder Andreas Fouras said:

“Today’s announcement of our first US SaaS contract reflects the attainment of a key milestone in the Company’s commercialisation journey. Furthermore, the fact this milestone was completed with our clinical trial partners at the University of Miami, who have developed such an extensive understanding of XV Technology, is especially satisfying. The Company continues to go from strength to strength as commercialisation accelerates. I am excited by recent progress both in Australia and the USA, and I look forward to providing further positive updates over the coming weeks and months.”

At the end of February, 4DX released its half-year results.

Revenue rose 210% to $0.5 million but net loss widened 30% to $16.2 million. The company had $46 million in cash and cash equivalents for the half-year ended 31 December 2022.

Fast grocery delivery may be another failed zero interest rate phenomenon.

Today, the AFR reported that grocery delivery company Milkrun will shutter. 400 staff and riders will become redundant.

Milkrun was one of the last remaining instant grocery delivery apps that were in vogue among investors in early 2022, raising one of the biggest early-stage rounds in Australian venture capital history.

In an email to staff, Milkrun founder Dany Milham said:

“I’m writing to let you know that we have made the difficult decision to wind down the business, and as a result, MilkRun will cease trading this Friday. Since we announced our structural changes in February, economic and capital market conditions have continued to deteriorate, and while the business has continued to perform well, we feel strongly that this is the right decision in the current environment. We’ve always been committed to doing things the right way, and winding down the business while we still have a sufficient cash balance enables us to ensure our people and suppliers are paid in full.

“I’m so proud of the amazing business we have built and of the growth we have achieved. We set out to change the face of grocery delivery in Australia, while staying true to our values, people and culture, and we did that thanks to the passion, dedication, and hard work of so many of you, and you should be really proud of what we have achieved together.“

Ultrafast delivery company MilkRun will close its doors and make more than 400 staff and riders redundant. https://t.co/WeaM46rl5o

— Financial Review (@FinancialReview) April 11, 2023

Bitcoin is up 80% since the start of the year.

Who would have seen that coming after a protracted ‘crypto winter’ cooled investor interest.

Bitcoin is now trading over US$30,000 — the first time since June 2022.

Source: Bloomberg

What does breaching the US$30k level mean?

The chart readers think this is a significant event.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Quantum Economics chief executive Mati Greenspan said:

“30k is very significant for both technical and fundamental reasons. The resistance has been building up for three weeks straight and has now finally broken. This is the first time we’ve crossed that level since the collapse of Terra/Luna and Three Arrows Capital. It basically means that the price has fully recovered from Celsius, FTX and the US regulatory crackdown.”

Will we see another frenzied crypto rally in 2023 and the concomitant extravagances, memes, and rug pulls?

The lithium sector has been on a wild ride in recent years.

In 2021, eight of the top 10 performing stocks on the All Ords were lithium stocks.

Fast-forward to now, five of the 20 most shorted stocks on the ASX are lithium stocks:

Source: ASIC

Lithium miners have gone from top performers to some of the worst performers.

So what happened?

Is the lithium stock slump permanent? Or does the contraction offer buying opportunities?

https://www.moneymorning.com.au/20230411/what-happened-to-asx-lithium-stocks.html

Last week, I spoke with two of my colleagues — Selva Freigedo and James Cooper — about the outlook for a pair of important metals: copper and lithium.

The discussion covered the recent slump in lithium spot prices and the related correction in lithium stocks; whether lithium stocks offered value opportunities at current prices; the ‘perfect storm’ brewing for copper in 2023; and the long-term outlook for both metals.

Check out the conversation below!

Last month, fintech Latitude Financial suffered a large cyber-attack. Millions of customer details — like driver’s licence numbers — were stolen.

Today, the criminals behind the attack issued Latitude a ransom demand.

But LFS said it will not pay it.

‘We will not reward criminal behaviour, nor do we believe that paying a ransom will result in the return or destruction of the information that was stolen. In line with advice from cybercrime experts, Latitude strongly believes that paying a ransom will be detrimental to our customers and cause harm to the broader community by encouraging further criminal attacks.’

If Latitude will not pay a ransom, would the criminals try their luck with the individuals affected?

Last year, the hackers behind the data breaches at Medibank released tranches of stolen customer data after Medibank rejected a ransom demand.

Medibank declined to pay the ransom, arguing “there is only a limited chance paying a ransom would ensure the return of our customers’ data and prevent it from being published.”

Latitude Financial CEO Bob Belan echoed Medibank’s rationale, stating today:

“Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals. Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future. Our priority remains on contacting every customer whose personal information was compromised and to support them through this process. In parallel, our teams have been focused on safely restoring our IT systems, bringing staffing levels back to full capacity, enhancing security protections and returning to normal operations. I apologise personally and sincerely for the distress that this cyber-attack has caused and I hope that in time we are able to earn back the confidence of our customers.”

 

The ASX 200 is up 1.30% at midday trade, boosted by the materials and energy sectors.

The best performers on the XJO at 12pm:

• Paladin Energy, up 5%
• Nickel Industries, up 4.5%
• Newcrest Mining, up 4.5%
• Brainchip, up 4.3%
• Sandfire Resources, up 4.1%
• Lynas Rare Earths, up 4%
• Iluka Resources, up 4%
• Liontown Resources, up 3.5%