Market Update & Important Indicators:
U.S. stocks fell slightly as health-care shares jumped and oil prices stabilized. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 13 points, or 0.1%, to 21397. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite finished relatively flat. Health-care shares, the best-performing sector in the S&P 500 this week, extended gains as Senate Republicans unveiled their health-care bill. The bill faces an uncertain future with several Republican senators wavering on it, but its release was a key step for President Donald Trump's agenda, some said. The removal of uncertainty on the health bill's contents and few apparent negatives for hospital and health-care stocks were likely contributing to the sector's gains Thursday, said Timothy Anderson, managing director at brokerage MND Partners. Health-care shares rose 1.5% and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which is up roughly 10% so far this week, gained 1.9% Thursday. Energy shares also rose after falling alongside oil prices in recent sessions. The U.S. gold price also gained overnight, jumping 0.3% to 1,250.00 US$/oz.
European stocks ended marginally higher after a volatile session, as energy shares trimmed losses on the back of a rebound in oil prices. The Stoxx Europe 600 ended 0.01% higher at 388.53, after trading as high as 388.71 and as low as 386.10 earlier in the day. The choppy session came as traders kept a close eye on oil prices, which entered bear-market territory earlier this week on concerns of rising production on the U.S., Nigeria and Libya. Crude oil jumped 1.6% to $43.19 a barrel, but remained volatile. The Stoxx Europe 600 Oil and Gas Index ended 0.3% lower, after trading down 1.6% earlier.
Korea's Kospi index was up 0.5%, while in Taiwan, the tech-heavy Taiwan Taiex rose 0.5%, hitting its best intraday level since 1990. Japan's Nikkei inched down 0.1% in quiet trading as the yen strengthened. Shanghai stocks gave up early gains to trade down 0.3% as worries about financials deepened in the final hour of trading. MSCI decided this week to include China's A-shares in its emerging-markets index, which some expect to attract flows to the country from global investors. Indonesian shares ended higher, tracking gains in neighbouring markets. The JSX index rose 0.2% to a fresh all-time high of 5829.71 after trading lower for most of the trading day. Gainers slightly outnumbered decliners 159 to 164, with foreign net sell of IDR1.94 trillion. Malaysian stocks ended a tad up, mainly on bargain hunting after three days of declines.
Australian shares staged a broad recovery, as banks rebounded and mining stocks benefited from a rise in commodity prices. Still, the shine came off the market late in the session after South Australia announced plans for a fresh tax on the country's biggest lenders that will have the same structure as a new federal levy. Snapping a run lower the last two days, including the sharpest drop of the year on Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 40.3 points, or 0.7%, to 5706.0. Although off their peaks of the session, the four largest banks collectively added almost 18 points to the ASX 200.
The London Metal Exchange's three-month copper contract closed flat on Thursday at $5,742/t. The other base metals finished mostly higher. Aluminium prices rose 0.2% to 1,861/t, lead prices rose 1.0% to 2,186/t, nickel prices rose 0.2% to 8,968/t, whilst zinc prices rose 2.5% to 2,697/t. Tin prices bucked the trend falling 1.5% to 19,335/t.
In this Issue:
Metro Mining (MMI) | Debt secured – ready to break ground | BUY
Market Cap $131m | Current Price $0.14 | Target Price $0.44
Metro Mining (MMI) has secured $40m debt financing through Sprott Private Resource Lending and Ingatatus AG Pty Ltd, a related party of Metro’s strategic cornerstone shareholder Balanced Property. These funds will support development of the Bauxite Hills project which is expected to commence production Q2 CY18. MMI also announced that it had attained State Environmental Approvals and final Federal Approvals are expected imminently. Project construction is on track to commence Q3 CY17. Argonaut maintains a BUY recommendation with a $0.44 target price.
Kibaran Resources (KNL) | Revised BFS: Production Increased | SPEC BUY
Market Cap $43m |Current Price $0.19 | Target Price $0.35
Kibaran Resources (KNL) released a revised Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) for its 100% owned Epanko Graphite project in Tanzania. The study outlines a 50% increase in production to 60ktpa graphite concentrate for a 15% increase in pre-production capex (US$88.9m vs the US$77.5m in the 2015 BFS). The project generates a 30% post-tax IRR and has an initial 18-year mine life. Epanko is differentiated from other potential graphite development projects by its high grade and its large flake size distribution. KNL is the only graphite developer to have the majority of its forecast production in binding offtake agreements with non-Chinese parties. The revised BFS is differentiated from other studies by the rigour of independent assessment to meet Tanzanian and international social and financial standards. The Company is also investigating downstream processing to produce battery grade spherical graphite, with a BFS expected Q3 CY17.
Recent Contacts & Presentations:
Sovereign Metals Ltd (SVM), Calidus Resources Ltd (CAI), Great Boulder Resources Ltd (GBR), Finders Resources Ltd (FND), Bionomics Ltd (BNO), Threat Protect Australia Ltd (TPS), Ramelius Resources Ltd (RMS), Zenith Energy Ltd (ZEN), Blackham Resources Ltd (BLK), Top End Minerals Ltd (TND), Northern Star Resources Ltd (NST), Xanadu Mines Ltd (XAM), Dacian Gold (DCN), Egan Street Resources Ltd (EGA), Alice Queen Ltd (AQX), Paringa Resources Ltd (PNL), AWE Limited (AWE), Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd (SAR), Red River Resources Ltd (RVR), Vital Metals Ltd (VML), Prairie Mining Ltd (PDZ), Hotcopper Holdings Ltd (HOT), Resolute Mining Ltd (RSG)
Please read Argonaut's Important Disclaimers & disclosures
