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The ASX edged higher at midday trade, on the back of the Fair Work Commission announcing a 5.75 per cent increase in minimum and award wages. The decision will affect about one-quarter of all Australian employees.
Over in the US, the Senate has voted to suspend the country’s debt ceiling until 2025. If the bill wasn’t passed, the country was facing catastrophic default, potentially next week.
The sectors showed mixed results, with materials coming out on top, up 1.5 per cent.
Among those to receive a boost was Lithium Energy (LEL), up three per cent. The company reported a high-grade graphite discovery at its Corella project in Queensland.
The discovery came from a recently completed maiden drilling program, where assays showed numerous intercepts of high-grade graphite content of over 15 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC).
Individual intercepts were also reported of up to 27.4 per cent. The company was last trading at 93 cents.
Orcoda (ODA) has entered a share purchase agreement to acquire Brisbane-based Future Fleet for a total of $1.39 million, plus stock.
The settlement is expected to take place in July, once due diligence is complete. The company last traded at 27.5 cents.
Turning to energy stocks, and Vintage Energy (VEN) has wrapped up the institutional component of its $5.6 million capital raising.
The institutional component to existing shareholders raised a total of $3 million, via the issue of 59.3 million new ordinary shares at five cents apiece.
The funds will be used to ramp up production at its Cooper Basin gas fields.
Vintage is also offering a further 52.5 million new shares to eligible retail shareholders under a fully underwritten retail entitlement offer, opening on June 7.
And in the industrials space, Kelsian Group (KLS) has completed a US$325 million (A$487 million) acquisition of the fourth largest motorcoach operator in the United States, All Aboard America!
Kelsian’s CEO says both parties are “highly complementary” and share the same commitment to maintaining high safety standards for its employees and customers. KLS climbed one and a half per cent, to $6.81.
And Aurora Labs (A3D) has soared nearly 36 per cent after inking a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Saudi Arabian oil company, Aramco.
The MoU was struck following a recent visit by the oil giant to A3D’s Perth facility.
The agreement outlines potential cooperation and collaboration areas for both parties to explore, including that with A3D’s upcoming 3D printer. At midday, the company was trading at 2.9 cents.
