ASX lithium shares are falling harder than the benchmark index and materials sector today.
Lithium shares trading lower this afternoon include:
- Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL), down 2.87%
- Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO), down 0.76%
- Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA), down 1.09%
- Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS), down 0.33%
- Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), down 2.96%
- Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE), down 2.5%
- Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE), down 1.14%
For perspective, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is 0.08% in the red.
What's happening?
ASX lithium shares are broadly underperforming the materials index today. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is down 0.19% at the time of writing.
On US markets, multiple lithium giants fell overnight. The Livent Corp (NYSE: LTHM) share price tumbled 6.18%, while Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (NYSE: SQM) shares fell 4.72%. The Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) share price also shed 6.7%.
Speculation on lithium demand from China could be impacting sentiment in the lithium sector.
News emerged that Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) could cut electric vehicle (EV) output from its Shanghai plant by more than 20% in December, Bloomberg reported.
But late on Monday in the US, a Tesla spokesperson described the report as "false news", Reuters reported.
Last week, the South China Morning Post reported EV battery production will exceed domestic electric car makers' demand threefold by 2025. EV battery makers are set to lift capacity by six times between this year and 2025, according to the report.
ASX lithium shares that have signed lithium supply agreements with Tesla include Liontown Resources and Piedmont Lithium (the latter of which is not in the ASX 200 but is a constituent of the All Ords).
Core Lithium negotiated with Tesla on an offtake agreement earlier this year. However, the date for concluding the term sheet passed in late October without any final agreement. Core Lithium CEO Gareth Manderson said at the time:
I want to thank Tesla for the time taken to negotiate with Core and look forward to maintaining an open and ongoing dialogue.
