In early afternoon trade on Tuesday, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has given back its morning gains and is sinking. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is down 0.3% to 7,294.9 points.
Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are racing higher:
Bigtincan Holdings Ltd (ASX: BTH)
The Bigtincan share price is up 4.5% to $1.18. Investors have been buying the sales enablement platform provider's shares after it announced a major contract extension. According to the release, US based telco giant T-Mobile has extended its contract by $6.3 million in total contract value over a two-year period. This means the T-Mobile total contract value now stands at $18.4 million since its initial deployment.
Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH)
The Oil Search share price is up 4% to $4.05. There have been a couple of catalysts for this rise. One is a jump in oil prices overnight and the other is a broker note out of Morgans. In respect to the latter, the broker has upgraded the energy producer's shares to an add rating with a $4.40 price target. This follows an upgrade to Morgans' medium term oil price forecasts.
Opthea Ltd (ASX: OPT)
The Opthea share price has jumped 9.5% to $1.38. This morning the biotech revealed that it has received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for its product to treat patients with neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition, Opthea noted that it may also be eligible for accelerated approval and priority review as long as it meets the needed criteria.
Xref Ltd (ASX: XF1)
The Xref share price has stormed 22% higher to 45 cents. This follows the release of the human resources technology company's fourth quarter update. According to the release, Xref expects to report record sales of $6.37 million and cash receipts of $5.93 million for the quarter. Management notes that COVID-19 has accelerated the global demand for remote working. This has led to organisations seeking better ways to perform candidate verification, leading to growing demand for its self-serve platform.
