In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a strong gain. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.8% to 8,582.3 points.
Four ASX shares that are rising more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are climbing:
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Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB)
The Austal share price is up 5.5% to $6.09. This appears to have been driven by news that the shipbuilder will be added to the benchmark ASX 200 index at June's quarterly rebalance. In addition, this morning Austal revealed that South Korean shipbuilder and substantial shareholder, Hanwha Group, has received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to increase its shareholding in Austal by up to 100%. Hanwha currently holds a 9.9% stake in the company and a further 9.9% economic interest through a cash settled total return swap. It is now seeking approval from Australian regulators to boost its equity position in Austal to 19.9%.
Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX: BOT)
The Botanix Pharmaceuticals share price is up 9% to 36 cents. This morning, this clinical dermatology company announced that it has entered into documentation with Kreos Capital for a loan facility worth up to US$30 million. The new debt facility will be available to Botanix for working capital purposes for the commercialisation of Sofdra, as well as other platform expansion opportunities. Executive Chairman, Vince Ippolito, commented: "We are pleased to work with Kreos Capital in relation to the Facility and appreciate the opportunity to do business with one of the world's leading debt providers with more than 25 years of experience."
DroneShield Ltd (ASX: DRO)
The DroneShield share price is up 3.5% to $1.60. This may have been driven by news that the counter drone technology company is expanding its European operations. It is working to establish a European manufacturing and in-house assembly facility, which will be its first outside of Australia. This includes plans to establish a new sales hub and create a second manufacturing line for select DroneShield hardware. DroneShield's CEO, Oleg Vornik, said: "This battleground has become ever more important to our European allies as they rapidly expand their defence capabilities. That defence must be centred around the modern threats of warfare which we're engaged with daily, even using AI to significantly advance counter drone capabilities by accurately identifying, tracking, and classing drones."
NextDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The NextDC share price is up 6% to $13.96. This morning, this data centre operator announced new contract wins. NextDC revealed that following recent customer contract wins, its pro forma contracted utilisation (at 31 May 2025) has increased by 16MW (7%) to 244MW since its last update on 6 May. A key driver of this has been its data centre under development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (KL1). Its contracted utilisation now totals 10MW, representing 15% of its planned capacity.
