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"G'day Fools. If you're like us, you're dismayed by the events taking place in Ukraine. It is an unnecessary humanitarian tragedy. Times like these remind us that money is important, but other things are far more valuable. And yet the financial markets remain open, shares are trading, and our readers and members are looking to us for guidance. So we'll do our best to continue to serve you, while also hoping for a swift and peaceful end to war in Ukraine."
It was another busy week of ASX news this week. Whilst the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to make headlines, there were also some major ASX movements that had nothing to do with the conflict.
Here's the lowdown on the headline-makers:
Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
The Zip share price fell more than 20% over the week.
It was a busy week for the business. Not only did it announce its FY22 half-year result, but it also announced that it was going to try to take over buy now, pay later rival Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) for a price of 0.98 Zip shares for each Sezzle share. At the time of the offer, that represented an offer of $491 million for the whole business.
Zip also carried out a $148.7 million capital raising from institutions.
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)
The Core Lithium share price jumped 25% this week.
The ASX share announced that it had executed a legally binding term sheet to supply Tesla with lithium from its Finniss lithium project. It will supply up to 110kt of spodumene concentrate to Tesla over four years, with pricing referenced to the market price. Tesla will also support Core with the planned development of lithium chemical processing capacity.
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)
Whitehaven Coal is one of the largest coal miners in Australia. The Whitehaven share price surged around 25% higher over the week.
Coal prices have surged 40% to US$440 per tonne amid the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the sanctions and European countries like Germany looking for other energy sources.
Grange Resources Limited (ASX: GRR)
The Grange Resources share price has gone up almost 50% this week. It released its full-year result after the market had closed on Friday, so this week was the first time the market was able to react.
It reported that profit after tax grew to $321.6 million, up from $203.2 million last year. The company said the average realised product price for the iron business was $276.17 per tonne, up from $196.77.
Paladin Energy Ltd (ASX: PDN)
The Paladin Energy share price only ended the week down 4.5%, but on Friday it fell by 14.5%.
As covered by my other Motley Fool colleagues, the drop may have been caused by a Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine and the plant "caught fire". The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this could turn into a "catastrophe" and may have led to damage that was the size of six Chernobyls and would lead to "the end of Europe"
However, the fire has thankfully been extinguished, according to Reuters.
