Today, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) paraded its third consecutive week of positive performance. At the end of the session, the benchmark index finished 0.88% higher at 7,238.8 points.

The lingering prospect of a 40 basis point increase to the Australian cash rate on Tuesday next week was not enough to shake investors of their bullish sentiment today.

Only one lonesome sector was unable to finish in the green today. The consumer discretionary sector was weighed down by disappointing performances from Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP) and Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES).

However, the question is: which shares delivered the biggest returns to investors on the ASX today? Here are the top ten stocks that came through for investors:

Top 10 ASX shares countdown today

Looking at the top 200 listed companies, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA) was the biggest gainer today. Shares in the iron ore exploration company jumped 8.14% as the price of the steel-making commodity rose to US$142.20 per tonne. Find out more about Champion Iron here.

The next best performing ASX share across the market today was Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS). The big name lithium producer experienced a generous 7.46% uptick in its share price as lithium companies continued their rebound on Friday. Uncover the latest Pilbara Minerals details here.

Today’s top 10 biggest gains were made in these ASX shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA)	$7.84	8.14%
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)	$2.45	7.46%
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR)	$1.27	6.72%
Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC)	$1.295	6.58%
Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)	$1.215	6.58%
Summerset Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SNZ)	$9.58	6.44%
Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC)	$42.94	5.07%
Grange Resources Ltd (ASX: GRR)	$1.69	4.97%
Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN)	$60.35	4.81%
Block Inc (ASX: SQ2)	$119.76	4.52%

Our top 10 ASX shares today countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to ensure you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the market has closed during weekdays to see which stocks make the countdown.

The post Here are the top 10 ASX shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Why did the Nickel Industries share price leap 7% on Friday?
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• One broker’s outlook for lithium supply and demand and what it could mean for ASX lithium shares
• Why are the ASX 200 iron ore giants outperforming on Friday?
• ASX 200 midday update: Healius disappoints, BHP and Fortescue storm higher

Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has positions in Block, Inc. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc., Wesfarmers Limited, and WiseTech Global. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Westpac Banking Corporation. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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It turned out to be a very pleasant day for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) on Friday. By market close, the ASX 200 had gained a healthy 0.88% and vaulted back over 7,200 points. But it was an even better day for one ASX 200 share. That would be the Nickel Industries Ltd (ASX: NIC) share price.

Nickel Industries shares ended up finishing the day at $1.30 each, up a pleasing 6.58%.

So what was behind this spirited performance?

Well, it’s not entirely clear. There hasn’t been any major news out from Nickel Industries today. There were the results of the annual general meeting to consider though. These were released earlier this week. Perhaps the biggest consequence of note was the approval of the name change from Nickel Mines to Nickel Industries which was approved by shareholders.

It’s not known if this caused any added optimism for Nickel Industries shares today though.

So let’s consider something else. Over the week, a number of green metals shares saw some savage selling pressure. These included many ASX lithium shares, as well as Nickel Industries. Wednesday saw Nickel Industries lose almost 4%, which was backed up by another 1.6% loss yesterday.

So perhaps today’s bullish moves higher were just an answer to the selling we saw earlier in the week. Perhaps investors saw a bargain when the market opened this morning.

Whatever the true reason for Nickel Industries’ stellar performance today, it was no doubt welcomed by shareholders after such a wild week.

At the current Nickel Industries share price, this ASX 200 share has a market capitalisation of $3.51 billion.

The post Why did the Nickel Industries share price leap 7% on Friday? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• ASX 200 midday update: Healius disappoints, BHP and Fortescue storm higher
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Friday
• ASX 200 midday update: Pilbara Minerals names new CEO, Wesfarmers’ strategy update

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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

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

What happened

The price of cryptocurrency Waves (CRYPTO: WAVES) has had an exciting week. At the time of writing, the price per token is only up 5.73% over the previous 24 hours. But the price has more than doubled over the past week. And it’s likely due to increasing optimism for the Waves ecosystem, which includes stablecoin Neutrino USD (CRYPTO: USDN).

So what

As a stablecoin, the price of Neutrino USD should always be $1. But it is more similar to failed stablecoin TerraUSD than to a stablecoin like Tether, which is backed by U.S. dollar reserves. And from May 9 to May 12, the price for Neutrino USD dropped all the way to $0.75, according to CoinMarketCap.com.

TerraUSD was collateralized by Luna (now called Luna Classic). The supply could increase or decrease by minting and burning new tokens in accordance to demand with an exchange mechanism between TerraUSD and Luna Classic. At least that’s how it was supposed to work. In reality, the two tokens ultimately entered what’s called a “death spiral” and couldn’t pull out.

Therefore, when Neutrino USD fell, many assumed that it would enter a death spiral with its accompanying token Waves as well. But it didn’t. As of this writing, the price of Neutrino USD is $0.99 — not perfect but practically recovered.

Because Neutrino USD was able to fight its way back, it’s restoring investor confidence in Waves, and that’s why the price has recovered so dramatically in the past week.

Now what

There’s a flip side to this conversation. To restore Neutrino USD to its $1 peg, coins had to be removed from circulation. Because of this, the overall market capitalization has fallen roughly 20% since April. This has effectively decreased total coin supply to meet user demand and stabilize the price.

But lower demand is a concern. For the price of Waves to keep going up sustainably, you’d want to see an increase in activity on the entire ecosystem, including for Neutrino USD. But as suggested by Neutrino USD’s declining market cap, that might not be happening right now, which is something to keep an eye on.

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

The post Why this small cryptocurrency kept making waves today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• What’s boosting the Ioneer share price 14% higher?
• Woolworths share price edges lower despite green milestone
• Investors are betting on the Pointsbet share price today, it’s up 5%
• Here are the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• Down 9% in a week, is the Lottery Corp share price a buy? 

Jon Quast has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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

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The Ioneer Ltd (ASX: INR) share price is leaping higher on Friday despite the company’s silence. However, the stock did tumble more than 20% over the course of Wednesday and Thursday

At the time of writing, the Ioneer share price is 52 cents. That’s 14.29% higher than its previous close but 3.7% lower than it was at the end of last week.

For context, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) has gained 0.94% today and 0.77% since last Friday’s close.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s been going on with the lithium and boron producer and its peers today.

What’s driving the Ioneer share price higher today?

 The Ioneer share price is the ASX All Ordinaries’ top performer on Friday.

The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) is also having a good day today. While the company isn’t a constituent of the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) many of its lithium-producing peers are among the sector’s leaders.

Right now, the share prices of fellow lithium stocks Liontown Resources Limited (ASX: LIO), Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS), and Mineral Resources Limited (ASX: MIN) are up 6.3%, 6.1%, and 5.2% respectively.

The lithium miners’ share prices’ gains might represent a rebound after Wednesday’s disastrous session.

Then, the market appeared to react to bearish sentiment from Goldman Sachs and news a major Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer could bypass lithium markets.

The Ioneer share price tumbled 16% on Wednesday and another 6% on Thursday. Thus, today’s movements might be a simple correction following the sell-off.

Though, the gain hasn’t been enough to boost the stock back into the longer term green.

The Ioneer share price is still nearly 37% lower than it was at the start of 2022. However, it is 38% higher than it was this time last year.

The post What’s boosting the Ioneer share price 14% higher? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• 3 ASX All Ordinaries mining shares having a terrific Tuesday

Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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