The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to finish the week with a small gain. In afternoon trade, the benchmark index is up slightly to 8,620.3 points.
Four ASX shares that are rising more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are climbing:
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX: BEN)
The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank share price is up 2% to $10.35. Investors have been buying the regional bank's shares after analysts responded positively to its plan to acquire RACQ Bank's retail lending assets and deposits. The purchase price will be based on the book value of the transferring book at completion, which comprised $2.7 billion of retail loans and $2.5 billion of retail deposits at the end of June. In response, Ord Minnett upgraded its shares to an accumulate rating with an $11.00 price target.
Nextdc Ltd (ASX: NXT)
The Nextdc share price is up 4% to $13.98. This follows news that the data centre operator has agreed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ChatGPT's owner OpenAI. The MOU will focus on developing a sovereign AI infrastructure partnership under the OpenAI for Australia program. This will see OpenAI and NextDC collaborate on the planning, development, and operation of a next generation hyperscale AI campus and large-scale GPU supercluster at NextDC's S7 site in Eastern Creek, Sydney. This will reportedly be the largest data centre in the southern hemisphere.
Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL)
The Nuix share price is up 3% to $1.87. This investigative analysis software provider's shares have been pushing higher this week after it announced an acquisition. Nuix advised that it has agreed to acquire graph-powered AI decision platform Linkurious for up to 20 million euros (~A$35.4 million). Nuix's interim CEO, John Ruthven, said: "The acquisition of Linkurious is an exciting accelerator for our strategic vision to enable our customers with insights from complex data at unparalleled speed and scale. This injection of graph-native expertise, proven link analysis technology and quality customers will allow us to bring immediate value to our customers."
Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL)
The Vulcan Energy share price is up 10% to $4.50. This lithium developer's shares are rebounding after a significant decline on Thursday. That decline was driven by the company's capital raising. Vulcan Energy's institutional offer raised 398 million euros (A$710 million) at $4.00 per new share. This represented a 34.7% discount to its share price at the time. Vulcan's managing director and CEO, Cris Moreno, said: "We would like to thank our existing shareholders for their continued support and welcome our new shareholders onto the register, including strategic investors. The Placement will enable Vulcan to transition from development phase into execution phase with project execution of Project Lionheart due to commence in the coming days."
