So far this year the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has lost 12% of its value. Rising inflation and interest rates as well as fears of a global recession have been dragging the market down all year.
But guess what these ASX shares are doing? They're going the opposite way — and by a long shot, too.
Which ASX shares are leading the market in 2022?
According to data from S&P Capital IQ, these are the top five performing shares in 2022:
- Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC) shares up 277%
- New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) shares up 183%
- Stanmore Resources Ltd (ASX: SMR) shares up 177%
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares up 134%
- Silex Systems Ltd (ASX: SLX) shares up 129%.
Why are they shooting the lights out?
You'll note that four of these ASX shares are in the materials and resources sectors. That means their share prices have a direct relationship with commodity prices.
Commodity markets have been going gangbusters this year.
Whitehaven, New Hope, and Stanmore Resources are ASX coal mining shares. The Newcastle coal price hit an all-time high of US$440 per tonne back in March. Today it's at US$385 per tonne — still well above historical highs.
Coal prices have been spurred higher by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with European and other nations now seeking alternative suppliers for the future.
Core Lithium, as you might have guessed, is an ASX lithium share. The company is a lithium explorer. The price of lithium carbonate hit a record high this month at US$77,767.49 per tonne.
Core Lithium is now reportedly only months away from first production at its Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory.
Investors are bidding up the share price because they think the company has a bright future.
As my colleague Bernd writes, the Australian Industry Department forecasts lithium exports to rise by more than 180% to $13.8 billion in 2022-23. This compares to $4.9 billion in 2021-22.
What about the non-mining star performing share?
In the case of Silex, it looks like the share price has been rising on the back of exciting company developments in 2022.
Silex Systems is an ASX tech share. It's an Australian research and development company that is creating laser uranium enrichment technology for the global enrichment industry.
The company reported strong FY22 full-year results in August, which lifted its share price by 11.75% on the day.
As my colleague Matthew wrote, Silex reported progress with its global laser enrichment commercialisation project for uranium and utilising nuclear energy.
Among this year's highlights, Silex responded to a request from the United States Department of Energy (DoE) for information on its high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) project back in February.
