The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has followed Wall Street's lead and dropped into the red. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is down 0.4% to 7,756.5 points.
Four ASX shares that are not letting that hold them back are listed below. Here's why they are rising today:
DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO)
The DroneShield share price is up 12% to 95.7 cents. This has been driven by the release of a quarterly update from the counterdrone technology company this morning. For the three months, DroneShield reported record first-quarter revenues of $16.4 million. This is up a massive 10x from $1.6 million in the prior corresponding period. Looking ahead, management advised that it has a $27 million contracted backlog and a sales pipeline of over $519 million. Management also advised that following an expansion of DroneShield's Sydney facility and its supply chain network, its current manufacturing capacity is now $400 million per annum.
Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR)
The Ioneer share price is up 10% to 21.5 cents. This morning, Ioneer revealed that it has moved one step closer towards the construction of its Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron site. This follows the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) planned issuance of the project's draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Ioneer notes that the pending release of this draft EIS is the first to be issued from the Biden Administration as part of its efforts to accelerate domestic lithium production. It marks a key milestone in the environmental permitting review process for the proposed greenfield project in Nevada, which management notes is set to inject a critical supply of integral transition materials into the U.S. EV battery production supply chain.
Piedmont Lithium Inc (ASX: PLL)
The Piedmont Lithium share price is up 36% to 28 cents. Investors have been fighting to get hold of this ASX lithium miner's shares today after it received a mining permit for the Carolina Lithium project in the United States. Approval was granted almost three years after its application was submitted. Management said: "We plan to develop Carolina Lithium as one of the lowest cost, most sustainable lithium hydroxide operations in the world, and as a critical part of the American electric vehicle supply chain."
Talga Group Ltd (ASX: TLG)
The Talga share price is up 5.5% to 77.5 cents. This has been driven by the release of the battery materials and technology company's front-end engineering and design (FEED) study for its integrated Vittangi Anode Project in northern Sweden. Talga CEO, Martin Phillips, commented: "The completion of the FEED is a key step in our execution plan and we are very pleased with the results of the process."
