After a solid start to the week, the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has faded in afternoon trade and is down over 0.1% to 5,981 points.
Four shares which haven't let that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they have started the week with strong gains:
The Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) share price is up almost 9% to $2.99 following the release of its half-year update. The star of the show for the wholesaler and distributor was its hardware business. Segment sales for the period increased $482.6 million to $1,060 million thanks to the benefits of the Home Timber & Hardware acquisition.
The South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) share price has climbed 2% to $3.27. Today's gain is likely to be attributable to a broker note out of Citi. According to the note, the investment bank has upgraded South32 to a buy rating after making positive revisions to its commodity price forecasts due to better-than-expected growth in China.
The Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) share price has raced 5% higher to $4.31 after the graphite miner announced a sales agreement with Zhanjiang Juxin New Energy Materials for 20,000 tonnes of natural graphite from the Balama operation in 2018. No financial terms were disclosed for the deal which equates to approximately 11% to 12.5% of its targeted production in 2018.
The Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is up 2.5% to $3.50 following the release of a positive broker note out of the Macquarie equities desk. According to the note, the broker has upgraded Telstra's shares to a buy with a $3.70 price target following its recent earnings revision.
