In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed the lead of US markets and is trading notably higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.8% to 6,765.3 points.
Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most are listed below. Here's why they are charging higher:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price is up 4% to $115.34. Investors have been buying Afterpay and other tech shares on Friday after a strong night of trade on the Nasdaq index. Thanks to solid gains by the likes of Amazon, Facebook, and Tesla, the tech-heavy index rose a sizeable 2.5%. This has led to the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) rising 2.4% this morning.
Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX: PLL)
The Piedmont Lithium share price has stormed 7% higher to 89 cents. This appears to have been driven by improving risk sentiment and rising lithium prices. This led to the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF rising a sizeable 6% during overnight trade. A number of other ASX lithium shares are recording solid gains this morning.
ResApp Health Ltd (ASX: RAP)
The ResApp share price has jumped 14% to 6.6 cents. Investors have been snapping up this digital health company's shares after it announced a deal with AstraZeneca. According to the release, ResApp has secured a one-year, non-exclusive agreement with AstraZeneca's Japanese subsidiary to license its cough counting technology for use in a program to support asthma patients in Japan.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
The Santos share price has climbed 2.5% to $7.35. The catalyst for this was a solid rise in oil prices overnight. According to CNBC, the Brent crude oil price rose 2.3% to US$69.46 a barrel and the WTI crude oil price rose 2.5% to US$66.02 a barrel. Crude oil prices climbed as vaccine rollouts bolstered the economic outlook and U.S. fuel stocks reduced.
