As it happened: Miners, banks and tech lift ASX to third straight gain

“I have never seen such a large company move so much in a day without a takeover bid,” said chief investment officer at Australian Eagle Asset Management, Sean Sequeira.

“When it was up 58 per cent, I was just gobsmacked.”

He noted there could have been a short squeeze going on, even though official records only report 1 per cent of shares held in a short position. WiseTech closed 28.5 per cent higher at $46.50.

Appen jumped 8.7 per cent and HUB24 gained 8.5 per cent. The recovery continued for travel stocks with Flight Centre up 7.4 per cent, Webjet up 6.5 per cent and Qantas up 5.4 per cent to a seven-week high of $4.87.

Telstra dropped 2.5 per cent after going ex-dividend, and Wesfarmers dropped for a third day in a row to a close at a three-week low of $63.22, ahead of full-year results on Friday.

Plumbing group Reece dropped 10.8 per cent a day after its results, but was still up 50 per cent so far this year.

APA Group dropped 3 per cent after a large write-down of its Orbost gas works.

Seven Group Holdings dropped 7.6 per cent after chairman Kerry Stokes resigned and investors were unsatisfied with the company outlook. Nine Entertainment (publisher of this masthead) fell 9.7 per cent after results missed expectations.

His son Ryan Stokes is Seven Group’s chief executive - so not even one degree of separation between Kerry Stokes and control. And Stokes will retain chairmanship of Seven’s listed subsidiary Seven West Media - a business in which he has a long-standing passion.

Thus Stokes senior’s decision to hand the chair of Seven Group to a family outsider, Terry Davis, barely loosens any tentacles he holds over the empire he created and which is responsible for his net wealth of $5.8 billion.

Read the full column from Elizabeth Knight here

“It will give us significant operational, technical and financial flexibility to deliver the full value of our combined portfolio.”

Lithium prices, which had tumbled sharply since 2018 amid an influx of supply outpacing demand, have rallied this year. While electric vehicles presently account for about 3 per cent of new sales, uptake is lifting in China, the United States and Europe, and governments are unleashing “green” post-pandemic stimulus packages targeting transport electrification.

Investors and analysts are also showing renewed optimism about the dawn of the electric vehicle era and are betting billions on the future of lithium products.

Macquarie analysts said strong EV sales and supply shortages, combined with an emerging spot market, are set to drive prices towards previous peaks.

“We have upgraded our lithium carbonate, hydroxide and spodumene price forecasts by 20-35 per cent on average over the next three years,” they said.

Orocobre on Wednesday reported a 10 per cent increase in annual sales revenue to $84.8 million ($117 million) for the year to June 30, but posted an after-tax loss of $89 million, which it partly attributed to a change in the Argentine tax rate.

Galaxy Resources swung to a half-year profit of US64 million ($88 million) on the back of improved pricing for lithium concentrate known as spodumene, up from a $US22 million ($30 million) loss a year earlier.

Orocobre shares were up 1.9 per cent to $9.35 in late trade.

“Whilst the Marine & Tourism division is exposed to the turmoil that the COVID-19 pandemic inflicts, SeaLink is well positioned to capture the heightened level of domestic travel demand, providing marine transport, holiday and general tourism product to very unique island destinations around the country,” SeaLink chief executive Clint Feuerherdt says.

The company says domestic demand has been strong whenever restrictions ease.

Around 90 per cent of group revenue is fully contracted to government or blue-chip corporate counterparts covering ferry and bus operations across Australia and Singapore.