The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price has been one of the best performers on the ASX 200 index on Monday.
In afternoon trade, the lithium developer's shares are up an impressive 13% to $1.03.
Why is the Core Lithium share price racing higher?
Investors have been bidding the Core Lithium share price higher despite there being no news out of the lithium developer.
However, there are a couple of potential drivers of its strong performance today.
The first is improving investor sentiment, particularly at the higher risk side of town, which is driving the ASX 200 index meaningfully higher on Monday.
For example, the ASX 200 index is up a solid 1.8% to 6,698.2 points this afternoon.
What else?
Also potentially giving the Core Lithium share price a lift has been last week's battery material exchange (BMX) update from Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS).
The lithium miner revealed that it received and accepted a record bid of the equivalent of US$7,000 per tonne ahead of its BMX auction.
In response to the pre-auction bid, Pilbara Minerals' CEO, Dale Henderson, said:
Contrary to recent suggestions that the market has peaked, the evidence we are seeing at the coal-face with our customers, including this pricing outcome, suggests that demand remains incredibly strong, with a continued healthy outlook for the foreseeable future.
This bodes well for Core Lithium, which is aiming to commence production from its Northern Territory-based Finniss project by the end of the year.
