Very high.

The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is down 0.5% today. But at the time of writing shares in this ASX mining stock are surging an eye-watering 177.2% to 9.7 cents apiece following major federal government news.

Any guesses?

If you said Alliance Nickel Ltd (ASX: AXN), give yourself a virtual gold star.

Here's why investors are sending the ASX mining stock rocketing on Thursday.

ASX mining stock explodes on government project award

With nickel prices tumbling in 2023 amid growing cheaper and dirtier nickel supplies out of Indonesia and China, a lot of Aussie nickel miners have come under pressure.

Indeed, as of market open this morning, the Alliance Nickel share price was down 60% over the past 12 months.

But the ASX mining stock is shaking off those losses and a lot more today after reporting that the Australian federal government has granted its NiWest Nickel Cobalt Project, Major Project Status.

Located in Western Australia, NiWest is reported to contain one of Australia's highest-grade undeveloped nickel laterite mineral resources. The ASX mining stock is targeting production of 90,000 tonnes nickel sulphate and 7,000 tonnes cobalt sulphate per year from the project.

NiWest marks the first Australian nickel project granted Major Project Status since nickel was added to the critical minerals list in February.

The status is awarded to Australian companies and projects the government believes are strategically significant. Among the benefits, these projects can expect to receive additional support with federal and state regulatory approvals for a three-year period.

Alliance Nickel said that it was granted the status for NiWest in recognition of the potential contribution to Australia's economic growth and critical minerals industry. It said this recognition will help support the rapid advancement of the project. And it noted that this comes at an opportune time "as global demand for IRA compliant battery-grade nickel and cobalt grows".

Commenting on the government award sending the ASX mining stock flying higher today, Alliance Nickel CEO Paul Kopejtka said:

We are delighted NiWest has been recognised by the Australian Government as a project of national significance. NiWest is the first nickel project to be awarded MPS since nickel was added to the Critical Minerals List earlier this year.

The NiWest Project is now recognised as significant from an industry and economic perspective, and we look forward to working closely with relevant Ministers, Government and industry bodies as we move towards construction.

The post Guess which little ASX mining stock is rocketing 177% on big government news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

So, which ASX miners have surprised the market today? Let's take a look.

3 ASX mining shares soaring on exciting announcements

Wednesday has brought a modest gain for the broader market. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.35% right now while the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has lifted 0.27%.

But the GME Resources Limited (ASX: GME) share price's performance has been anything other than modest. The stock is surging 26% right now to trade at 14.5 cents. And earlier today it hit a 52-week high of 15 cents, representing a 30% gain.

It follows a three-session trading halt within which the company announced an offtake agreement with Stellantis. The European automaker signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the future sale of battery grade nickel and cobalt products from the ASX miner's NiWest Project.

GME Resources also launched a successful $4 million capital raise to help fund the project's definitive feasibility study. The placement saw 42.1 million shares offered for 9.5 cents apiece.

Speaking of battery-grade nickel and cobalt offtake agreements, that's exactly what's driving the Queensland Pacific Metals Ltd (ASX: QPM) share price today. The ASX mining share is rocketing 17% right now to trade at 17.5 cents.

Queensland Pacific Metals announced a collaboration that will see General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) spending up to $108 million on an equity stake in the ASX-listed company.

Additionally, an offtake agreement will see General Motors purchasing any uncommitted nickel and cobalt from the TECH Project. The materials will be used to build electric vehicle batteries.

The final ASX mining share posting an eyepopping gain on Wednesday is Azure Minerals Ltd (ASX: AZS). It's up 5% at 22 cents right now.

The company revealed its latest lithium find this morning, with "abundant" targets discovered at the Andover Project.

The visible spodumene identified at multiple locations has been confirmed to house grades of up to 1.62% lithium oxide.

The post 3 ASX mining shares rocketing higher on big news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Part of that is because we're familiar with them. Part of that is because we like to support the home team. And part of that is because investing internationally used to be more expensive and more complicated.

But all of that is changing.

According to Saxo Bank, only 2 of the most popular shares among its Aussie clients in the first quarter of 2021 were ASX shares. The other 3 were listed in the United States.

What were the 5 most popular shares for Saxo's Aussie clients?

Earlier today Saxo revealed the 5 most popular shares for its Australian client base were…drum roll please…

1. Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA)
2. Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)
3. Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)
4. GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME)
5. AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC)

Commenting on investor interest, Saxo Market's Head of Equity, Peter Garnry said:

Global equities continued the upward momentum in the first quarter amid increased volatility, which was especially evident in several the heavily shorted stocks in the beginning of the year such as GameStop and AMC. Many of these names continue to attract retail interest although some of the hype seems to have faded.

Garnry urged investors to proceed with extreme care when trading in these types of shares with "unprecedented high volatility".

Tesla takes the pole position

Pointing to Tesla, the most popular share among Saxo's Aussie clients in the first quarter of this year, Garnry said:

Tesla remains a popular stock with Saxo Bank's clients and the increasing competition is somewhat at odds with the current valuation of Tesla. But the company continues to surprise to the upside with Q1 delivery numbers at 170,000 vehicles, which was above analysts' estimates… However, Tesla's free cash flow generation remains stretched given the rise in competition which will be the long-term theme for investors to watch.

Saxo's recommendations

Looking at the list of top 5 most popular shares for its Australian clients, it would appear few are taking heed of Saxo's own advice, instead chasing after the shares making big news for their big gains.

However, Garnry cautions:

Our view remains that during the incoming reflationary environment investors should increase their exposure to the commodity sector and high-quality companies with low debt leverage. The rising interest rates are likely to create a downward adjustment of equity valuations in the most speculative growth segments such as bubble stocks, e-commerce, gaming, green transformation, and next-generation medicine stocks.

He adds that the investment bank believes shares in cyclical sectors will outperform as the global economy recovers and inflation makes itself known.

The post Saxo reveals its Australian clients' top 5 most popular shares appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Wall Street got off to a generally good start on Tuesday morning, as market participants seemed comfortable with the slow but steady pace of economic recovery. Although the latest data on retail sales was somewhat disappointing, investors like that a sluggish economy is likely to make the Federal Reserve keep interest rates low for longer. As of 10:30 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) had moved lower by 70 points to 32,884, backing off from its record close on Monday. However, the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) had pushed further into all-time high ground with a 10-point rise to 3,979, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ: .IXIC) had risen 116 points to 13,575.

Many investors have focused their efforts on a very narrow part of the stock market, drilling down on companies that have become extremely popular among short-term traders. Stocks like GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) have gone from relative obscurity to the Wall Street spotlight. Yet as today's big moves lower for these two stocks show, it's extremely dangerous to speculate in high-profile stocks. As quickly as they move higher, they can give up those gains and leave traders with big losses.

Losing the game

Shares of GameStop were down more than 20% at 10:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday morning. The downward move took the video game retailer stock's losses since its best levels less than a week ago to more than 50%.

The biggest problem with investing in a stock that's a favorite among traders is that the reasons for any given day's rise or fall often has little to do with the company itself. In GameStop's case, one commonly cited expectation coming into this week was that investors flush with cash from the latest economic stimulus measure in Washington would buy more shares of the video game specialist. That would've been visible as a big bump in trading volume, but Monday's volume figures were subdued at best as the stock fell from $265 per share to $220. This morning's further decline took the stock to around $175 per share.

Even with the fall, though, GameStop shares remain at more than triple their worst levels in mid-February following the stock's initial rise and fall. Short-squeeze dynamics were primarily responsible for that first cycle up and down, but bullish shareholders pointed to news that Chewy Inc (NYSE: CHWY) co-founder Ryan Cohen was working more closely with GameStop to further its plans for a technological transformation.

Investors need to understand that Cohen's efforts will take time to bear fruit. In the meantime, volatile day-to-day swings promise to take GameStop shares on a wild ride -- and there could be plenty more ups and downs as traders fight with one another for supremacy.

AMC wants a Hollywood ending

Elsewhere, AMC Entertainment Holdings saw its stock pull back almost 10% on Tuesday morning. That still left the shares above where they'd started the week, with Monday's 26% rise outweighing the downward pressure today.

AMC's latest surge has come amid good news for the movie theater operator, as it has taken advantage of new rules in California to reopen theaters in key areas like Los Angeles. Already, popular theaters in Burbank and Century City are open to limited audiences, and if local officials concur, AMC will have all of its more than four dozen locations across the Golden State open by the end of this week.

Yet while traders focus on the likelihood that AMC will in fact make it through the pandemic without having to seek bankruptcy protection, many Wall Street analysts point to a cloudier long-term view. Moreover, given that AMC had to take on a lot of debt to survive, shareholders won't participate fully in any ensuing recovery in its business. That has some analysts calling for a plunge of 80% or more for AMC stock.

Don't get distracted

It's tempting to try to trade fast-moving stocks to score quick profits. But more often than not, traders find themselves getting burned in the inevitable downdrafts that follow big upward moves. Even long-term investors with bullish views must be wary of investing in AMC and GameStop in light of the disruptive trading activity that's dominating these two stocks right now.

This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.

The post GameStop and AMC are riding the stock market roller coaster again appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

While technology definitely played a part, it's certainly not the first time everyday people feverishly punting on the share market has ruffled the feathers of professionals.

University of Tasmania lecturer Robbie Moore pointed out Tuesday that a big fad more than 100 years ago in the US were venues called "bucket shops".

These were places where ordinary folks could bet on the price movements of particular shares, without actually directly purchasing real shares.

It was a TAB for the stock market, if you will.

"Bucket shops were immensely popular," Moore told The Conversation.

"By 1889, the volume of shares wagered in bucket shops was 7 times larger than the volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Bucket shops drew many more Americans – including women – into the thrill-ride of speculation."

And just like Robinhood and the GameStop saga, bucket shops were seen as a "democratisation" of a financial system that was even more inaccessible in those days.

The venues were popular with women, who still had immense barriers to directly participating in male-dominated financial markets.

And the shops also allowed middle-class men a peek into a world that only wealthy folks enjoyed at the time.

Finance industry gets defensive

Bucket shops were decorated to look like private men's clubs, which the real stock market participants socialised in.

"Increasingly backed by big money and arranged in national chains, their interiors were often fitted with plush furniture and seductive technologies such as stock tickers and telephones," said Moore.

"This mimicry threatened the legitimacy of stock speculation."

This compelled professional share investors to label them as gambling dens – illegitimate and dangerous punting.

The same condescending tone has also been taken by current professionals to label the Reddit investors who triggered the GameStop frenzy.

"Writing on GameStop for the Washington Post, Sebastian Mallaby made the distinction between 'rational investors' who work to stabilise the market and keep prices realistic and 'honest', and the 'crazies' whose frenzied activity creates irrational prices," said Moore.

"We saw similar language used by the finance industry of a century ago, asserting the superior masculine equipoise and rationality of trained financial professionals compared to the 'hysteria' of bucket shop amateurs."

Axa SA (EPA: CS) core investments chief investment officer Chris Iggo said the GameStop crowd should be taken seriously.

"There is a temptation to be dismissive of the sort of 'casino capitalism' on show on Wall Street at the moment," he said.

"However, there is a risk, albeit small at this stage, of today's side-show having more meaningful implications for markets ahead."

Activism investors and hedge funds have much in common

Moore said that both the activist Reddit investors and the professional fund managers are "invested in myth making" and "false dichotomies", such as Robinhood vs The Man and the Rational vs the Rabble.

"But it is clear that both sides are more similar and more entangled than they would care to admit. This poses difficult questions for the finance industry as it tries to shut out the rabble while maintaining the status quo."

Much like the criticisms of Robinhood's gamified nature, early last century the finance industry criticised the use of telegraph stock tickers in bucket shops.

"Tickers transmitted stock information over telegraph lines, and were available for anyone to purchase," said Moore.

"One pro-Wall Street journalist described the ticker as a 'narcotic', while a doctor writing for the Medical Times described the illness of 'tickeritis'."

But professionals also used these machines. Of course, the finance industry argued qualified tape readers were cool and rational.

"The Tape Reader is like a Pullman coach, which travels smoothly and steadily along the roadbed of the tape, acquiring direction and speed from the market engine, and being influenced by nothing whatever," reads the 1910 book Studies in Tape Reading.

Iggo said the amount of retail money flying around the markets due to low interest rates, plus the retail activism, would scare off professional short investors.

This would naturally reduce the opportunities for future short squeezes, although the public consciousness of them could have a profound impact.

"The more the media focuses on it, the more the idea that the whole market is in a bubble takes hold," he said.

"The psychological impact could drive investors to take profits on their equity portfolios or hold back cash in case there is a market correction."

The post GameStop-style uprisings happened 100 years ago too appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Why? Well, as we reported earlier today, the now-famous Reddit group WallStreetBets has been bouncing around the idea that a short-squeeze could send the price of the precious metal to more than US$1,000 an ounce. According to Bloomberg, silver is up 6.64% today to US$28.70 an ounce. That's up around 13% since 27 January, when it was priced at around US$25.40 an ounce.

Silver as an investment

Why silver though? Everyone knows that silver is a valuable precious metal. But gold is normally the 'investment metal' that jumps to mind, not silver. So why do people invest in silver in the first place?

Well, silver has a number of characteristics that make it similar to gold. Like gold, silver has a long history of being used as money (our coins used to have silver in them, after all). Many countries in the past have also used a 'silver standard' for monetary policy, such as the United States used to have the gold standard.

Further, silver is also believed by many to have 'inflation-proof' properties in the same way gold is perceived to have. It also has a limited supply and intrinsic value in the same way gold does. Unlike gold, however, silver also has a range of industrial applications as well, such as in rechargeable batteries and solar panels.

So which ASX silver shares are surging today?

ASX silver shares rocket

One of the most popular silver plays on the ASX today is Silver Mines Limited (ASX: SVL). The Silver Mines share price is up an incredible 30.6% today (at the time of writing) to 32 cents a share. Silver Mines describes itself as "a leading silver exploration company" which fully owns the "largest undeveloped silver project in Australia, and one of the largest globally". Its primary sites are the Barabolar and Bowdens Silver Projects in central New South Wales.

Another ASX silver share that's on the rise today is South32 Ltd (ASX: S32), which owns the Cannington Mine located near Mt Isa in Queensland. Cannington is one of the largest silver mines in the world. The South32 share price is up more than 3% today, a more muted response that probably reflects South32's diversified operations.

Also lighting up the ASX boards today is Adriatic Metals PLC (ASX: ADT) and Thomson Resources Ltd (ASX: TMZ). The Adriatic share price is up more than 11% at the time of writing, whereas Thomson shares are up a whopping 38.5%.

The rising silver price is further reflected in the ETFS Physical Silver ETF (ASX: ETPMAG) unit price, which is up around 8% at the time of writing. This ASX exchange-traded fund (ETF) covers the raw price of silver. Units of this ETF represent ownership of physical silver bullion that is stored in a bank vault.

The post Why these ASX silver shares are surging today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

We reported at the time on the GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) short squeeze phenomenon that has led the US company's shares returning over 100X in the last year. Yesterday it looked like our Aussie GME counterpart might have experienced a case of mistaken identity, with both companies sharing the GME ticker code.

GME share price isn't going anywhere

Today GME Resources shares have been halted, as the mineral explorer prepares to release an announcement regarding a price query. This is likely a 'please explain' from the ASX due to the rapid 53% increase on no news.

Ironically, this GME Resources even more similar to GameStop, as the US company experienced its own volatility-induced trading halt last night. Reportedly, GameStop triggered the NASDAQ's code M, a volatility trading pause in regard to an exchange-listed issue. However, GameStop was trading again within minutes.

Brokers taking action

The madness that has been unfolding over the last week in the GameStop share price has led to hedge funds losing billions of dollars as they scramble to unwind short positions. With the collectivism showing no signs of slowing down, some brokers including Robinhood and Interactive Brokers, have put in place restrictions for trading GameStop. Reportedly, users of the platforms are now only able to close positions and not take on new ones.

It will be interesting to see if any restrictions are imposed on ASX-listed companies. Although, ASX-listed companies tend to have much lower short interest, which makes them less likely for a short squeeze target.

What about the ASX GME share price?

Currently, GME Resources remains in a trading halt. The company will likely submit an explanation to the ASX as to why the shares have skyrocketed. From there, the next step is unknown. It will be in the hands of the ASX as to whether they allow GME Resources to resume trading today.

It certainly is an interesting time to be in the stock market!

GME Resources share price snapshot

Including today's dramatic jump in share price, the GME Resources share price has now returned 133% in the last year. The company's market capitalisation now tops $72 million.

The post 53% share price jump lands GME Resources (ASX: GME) in trading halt appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The share price for GameStop has skyrocketed 790% in the last week alone. Now ASX-listed GME Resources Ltd (ASX: GME) has surged 28% on no news – Did someone get the wrong GME?

GameStop share price, mob mentality

The massive rally in GameStop comes after the future of the bricks and mortar gaming retailer looked shaky. Short positions (a way of profiting on price decrease) grew, as fund managers looked to capitalise on a collapse – then the antics of WallStreetBets stepped in.

One user devised that if investors bought and held, shorters would be forced to keep bidding higher to exit their increasingly losing short positions. The result, insane share price increases in an otherwise unextraordinary company.

This dramatic rise was only exacerbated when Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) founder, Elon Musk, tweeted out about GameStop.

Gamestonk!! https://t.co/RZtkDzAewJ

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021

The world's richest person was then joined by venture capital titan, Chamath Palihapitiya. Chamath also tweeted that he was jumping in on the rise:

Lots of $GME talk soooooo….

We bought Feb $115 calls on $GME this morning.

Let's gooooooo!!!!!!!!

GME on the ASX

So now we are potentially experiencing this hype on the ASX, with GME Resources. A case of mistaken identity hasn't been uncommon recently. A US-listed company recently pumped more than 6000% after Elon Musk tweeted about the Signal messaging app, with no ties between the two.

GME Resources has no news out today, so it's possible that this price increase is indeed another mishap.

Obviously, there aren't any similarities between the 2 GMEs. One is a games retailer, the other is a minerals exploration company in Western Australia.

GME share price performance

With today's price jump, the GME Resources share price is up 70% in the last 12 months. The company's market capitalisation now resides around $40 million. If you were interested, GME Resource's new long lost cousin, GameStop, has a market cap of $25 billion.

The post Gamestop on the ASX? Why GME Resources (ASX:GME) share price rocketed 28% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

It was an even better story earlier in the trading day as well. The GME share price opened at 7.1 cents this morning and spiked to 8.8 cents at one point. That spike represented a new 52-week high for the company. At that level, GME shares were up almost 70% from last week's closing price.

What's driving the GME share price today?

So what's behind the dramatic surge in the GME share price today? Well, the company released a market announcement to the ASX this morning before market open. This announcement probably explains why investors are fighting to get a hold of GME shares today.

In this announcement, GME told investors that drilling at its Fairfield gold site has intersected a high-grade deposit of gold ore. The most promising result from the drilling was an ore sample containing 4.8 grams of gold per tonne of ore. The best sample ever recorded at Fairfield was reportedly 9.9 grams of gold per tonne of ore.

The company stated the following in the announcement:

Drilling has confirmed the presences of two moderate to high grade shoots and associated broader zones of low to moderate-grade, supergene, gold mineralisation within near surface weathered host rock… Of particular interest is the drilling interception of shallow moderate to high-grade gold mineralisation at the northern end of the deposit. This mineralisation is open both along strike to the north and down dip and opens up potential for extension of the deposit to the north which is untested.

The company tells us that "further work" is currently being planned to test the extent of the discovery of these drilling results. GME stated that "resource modelling and subsequent technical and economic studies will be pushed back until further drilling has been completed".

What does GME Resources do?

GME is a mining company. Its primary project is the NiWest Nickel-Cobalt project in Western Australia, of which it owns 100%. NiWest is estimated to house 830 kilotonnes of nickel and 52 kilotonnes of cobalt. The company tells us that its resources are developed into 'battery-ready' form. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (especially larger ones) use substantial amounts of both nickel and cobalt in their manufacturing process.

GME also owns the Fairfield gold deposit in the northeastern goldfields region of Western Australia. Interestingly, this deposit has been mined at various times for gold dating back to 1912.

The post Here's why the GME Resources (ASX:GME) share price is up 36% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.