The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is out of form again on Friday and trading sharply lower. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 1.2% to 6,898.8 points.
Four ASX shares that have avoided the sell-off and are climbing today are listed below. Here's why they are rising:
Nick Scali Limited (ASX: NCK)
The Nick Scali share price is up over 2% to $10.62. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of Macquarie this morning. Its analysts have upgraded the furniture retailer's shares to an outperform rating with a $12.60 price target. Macquarie highlights that Nick Scali's half-year guidance was ahead of expectations.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST)
The Northern Star share price is up 2% to $12.22. Investors have been buying Northern Star and other ASX gold shares today. This has been driven by another rise in the price of gold overnight amid concerns over rising tensions in the Middle East. In addition, this morning Macquarie put an outperform rating and $15.00 price target on its shares.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
The Santos share price is up 2.5% to $8.04. This has been driven by another rise in oil prices overnight amid the aforementioned tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices are now comfortably above US$90 a barrel at present, which means that Santos' operations are generating big profits.
Weebit Nano Ltd (ASX: WBT)
The Weebit Nano share price is up 13% to $3.75. Investors have been buying this semiconductor company's shares this week after it announced a commercial agreement with South Korea foundry DB HiTek. It has licensed the company's memory technology, Weebit ReRAM, for its customers to integrate as embedded non-volatile memory in their systems on chips.
