Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) shares are having a very strong finish to the week.
In morning trade, the lithium miner's shares are up 12% to 23.5 cents.
What's going on with Core Lithium shares today?
Investors have been scrambling to buy the company's shares this morning despite there being no news out of it.
However, it is worth noting that Core Lithium isn't the only ASX lithium share that is recording a strong gain today. Here's a quick summary of some of the movers and shakers in the industry on Friday:
- Arcadium Lithium (ASX: LTM) shares are up 8%
- Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LK) shares have also jumped 8%
- Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) shares are up 4%
- Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL) shares have surged 9%
- Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) shares are up 4%
- Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL) shares are 6% higher
Why are ASX lithium shares rising?
Today's gains by Core Lithium's shares appears to have been driven by a strong night for lithium stocks on Wall Street overnight.
This saw Sociedad Quimica y Mineral de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM) shares jump 8% and Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) shares rise 4.5%.
The driver of these gains was news that the lithium carbonate price in China climbed to its highest level in almost three months.
According to Reuters, the July lithium carbonate contract jumped as much as 7.5% to 112,250 yuan (US$15,592.66) per metric tonne. This is its highest level since 11 December.
Investors appear to believe that this could be a sign that lithium prices have now bottomed and are on the road to recovery.
However, it is worth noting that SQM has just announced that it plans to push ahead with its lithium expansions despite the market being oversupplied. So, investors may want to keep an eye on lithium prices in the coming weeks and months to see if this is just a temporary recovery or something more sustainable.
