In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on form and charging higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.5% to 7,427.5 points.
Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are racing higher:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price is up 5% to $77.07. This morning the Bank of Spain approved Block's takeover of the buy now pay later provider. This means the deal can now complete and Afterpay's shares will be suspended from trade next week. They will then be replaced with ASX-listed Block CDIs which will trade under the SQ2 ticker code.
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)
The Appen share price is up 5% to $10.25. Investors have been buying this artificial intelligence data services company's shares and other tech shares following a strong night of trade on the tech-focused Nasdaq index. The Appen share price is still down almost 8% in 2022 following today's gain.
Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LTR)
The Liontown share price is up 5% to $1.62. Investors have been buying this lithium developer's shares after it announced its first offtake agreement. Liontown will supply one of the world's premier battery manufacturers, LG Energy Solution (LGES), with 150,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) per annum of spodumene concentrate when production commences at Kathleen Valley. This is almost a third of its start up production of 500,000 dmt.
Nickel Mines Ltd (ASX: NIC)
The Nickel Mines share price is up 6% to $1.54. The catalyst for this was a strong rise in the nickel price overnight. According to CommSec, the nickel prices rose by a sizeable 5.5% to US$21,986 per tonne. This was driven by news that Tesla is moving to secure future supplies of the battery metal from Talon Metals.
