The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price continued its positive run today, climbing 2.67% to $1.155 at market close.

This comes after the company released its quarterly results on Wednesday, highlighting its progress at the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory.

With no other news released, shares in the ASX lithium developer are now up more than 9% for the week.

What’s powering Core Lithium shares ahead?

Investors have been snapping up Core Lithium shares as investor confidence in the sector picks up.

Shares in fellow lithium miners Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE) and Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR) are also surging today, up 4.52% and 3.53%, respectively.

According to its quarterly report, Core Lithium has been ramping up its construction and mining activities at Finniss to export its first lithium carbonate by the end of 2022.

The progress comes despite some headwinds encountered last quarter, such as supply chain disruptions, inflationary cost pressures and COVID-19 absenteeism.

Once Finniss is online, it will be Australia’s first lithium-producing mine outside of Western Australia.

The bigger picture

As demand for electric vehicles and renewable energy heats up, Core Lithium will be crucial in servicing the lithium supply gap.

This will be particularly important as the Australian government focuses on increasing the onshore capabilities of refining such critical minerals.

If lithium prices remain stable from here, this could translate to bumper revenues for Core Lithium, given the current market.

The price for lithium carbonate is currently fetching around US$70,600 a tonne, up 430% year-on-year.

Core Lithium share price snapshot

It has been an excellent year for Core Lithium shareholders, with the company’s shares up 94% over the last seven months and a whopping 320% higher since this time last year.

Based on today’s price, Core Lithium has a market capitalisation of roughly $1.85 billion, with more than 1.73 billion shares outstanding.

The post Core Lithium shares leapt 9% following this week’s results release, but why? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Core Lithium share price flat after ‘progressing well’ last quarter
• Why has the Core Lithium share price surged 15% in a week?
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Here are the top 10 ASX shares today
• Why is the Core Lithium share price surging 7%?

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras 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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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) ended a strong week’s trade on a high, driven upwards by real estate shares. The index was up 0.81% at 6,945.20 points at Friday’s close.

That sees the benchmark 2.26% higher than it was this time last week and at its highest point since 10 June.

The S&P/ASX 200 Real Estate Index (ASX: XRE) led the session today, closing 3% higher after starting the week on a slow foot.

Other top performing sectors included the S&P/ASX 200 Utilities Index (ASX: XUJ) and the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology Index (ASX: XIJ) – up 2.5% and 1.3% respectively.

Their gains followed a strong session on Wall Street overnight. The S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) lifted 1.2% in Thursday’s session while the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) and the Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) both rose 1%.

Iron ore futures and gold futures also lifted overnight, although Singapore iron ore futures reportedly tumbled today.

Of the ASX 200’s 11 sectors, 10 were trading in the green at the end of today’s session. But which shares delivered the biggest gains? Keep reading to find out.

Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown

The best performing ASX 200 share on Friday was gold miner St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM). The stock leapt 10% on Friday amid the rising price of gold. Find out more about what St Barbara has been up to lately here.

Today’s biggest gains were made by these ASX 200 shares:

ASX-listed company	Share price	Price change
St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM)	$1.125	9.76%
EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)	$1.05	8.25%
Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: CUV)	$18.77	6.17%
Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC)	$12.74	5.12%
Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN)	$2.64	4.76%
Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)	$20.70	4.6%
Lake Resources NL (ASX: LKE)	$0.81	4.52%
Janus Henderson Group CDI (ASX: JHG)	$36.07	4.4%
Boral Limited (ASX: BLD)	$2.90	4.32%
Block Inc (ASX: SQ2)	$108.48	4.25%

Our top 10 ASX 200 shares 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 200 shares today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• 3 ASX All Ords shares having a stellar end to the week
• Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Friday
• Why is the Santos share price beating the ASX 200 on Friday?
• Why IDP, PolyNovo, Sezzle, and St Barbara shares are pushing higher
• Why is the Lake Resources share price up today?

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 Block, Inc. and EML Payments. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended Block, Inc. and EML Payments. 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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Do you have room for a growth share or two in your portfolio? If the answer is yes, then it could be worth considering the two listed below.

Here’s why these ASX growth shares have been rated as buys by experts:

Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL)

The first ASX growth share that could be a buy is Aristocrat. It is a gaming technology company with a portfolio of hugely popular poker machines and digital games.

In respect to the latter, the company’s digital business, Pixel United, is the developer of popular games such as Raid: Shadow Legends, Heart of Vegas, Mech Arena, and Vikings: War of Clans. These are generating significant recurring revenues from their millions of daily active users.

Analysts at Citi are very positive on Aristocrat and believe it is well-placed for growth. Citi commented:

Aristocrat represents a compelling long-term growth story, with exposure to ongoing growth in mobile game penetration and potential to grow into new markets.

The broker currently has a buy rating and $41.00 price target on the company’s shares. Based on the current Aristocrat share price of $35.30, this suggests potential upside of 16% for investors.

Lovisa Holdings Limited (ASX: LOV)

Another ASX growth share that could be in the buy zone is fashion jewellery retailer Lovisa.

After dominating the Australian market, the company has now set its sights on the globe. And with a well-incentivised management team that have been there and done that before with other brands, analysts are tipping the company for incredible growth over the 2020s.

One of those brokers is Morgans, which sees a huge opportunity for Lovisa in the massive US market. It explained:

Lovisa’s global footprint now spans 22 countries. In our opinion, investors can expect this number to increase steadily while, at the same time, Lovisa builds out its presence in its existing markets. We do not think there is any lack of opportunity. In the US, for example, Lovisa now has 81 stores, representing 0.25 stores for every million people), compared to Australia with 158 stores, 6.15 stores for every million people.

Morgans currently has an add rating and $21.50 price target on its shares. Based on the latest Lovisa share price of $17.80, this implies potential upside of almost 21%.

The post Experts name 2 ASX growth shares to buy with double-digit upside potential appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Experts say these ASX tech shares would be excellent buys
• Own Lovisa shares? Why this broker believes the retailer could be a ‘global force’
• Why this leading broker is bullish on the Aristocrat share price
• Why has the Aristocrat share price increased 17% in two months?
• Here’s why analysts are tipping these ASX growth shares as buys

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 recommended Lovisa Holdings Ltd. 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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If you’re looking for an easy way to invest your hard-earned money, then exchange traded funds (ETFs) could be worth considering.

That’s because rather than deciding on which individual shares you should put your money into, ETFs allow you to invest in a large group of shares via a single investment.

If that sounds appealing to you, then you might want to take a look at the two ETFs listed below that could be top options in August:

BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF (ASX: HACK)

The first ETF for investors to consider in August is the BetaShares Global Cybersecurity ETF. This fund provides investors with exposure to the leaders in the global cybersecurity sector, which is heavily under-represented on the ASX.

It could be a top long term option because the sector is forecast to grow materially in the future due to the increasing importance of cybersecurity and rising cyber attacks. Among the companies in the fund are cybersecurity giants Accenture, Cloudflare, Crowdstrike, Okta, and Palo Alto Networks.

In respect to CrowdStrike, it provides the increasingly popular Falcon platform. This platform delivers incident response and forensic analysis services that are designed to help businesses understand whether a breach has occurred. It then allows the user to respond and recover from a breach with speed and precision to remediate the threat.

VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF (ASX: ESPO)

Another ETF to consider in August is the VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF. As its name implies, this ETF gives investors access to a portfolio of the biggest and best companies involved in video game development, hardware, and esports.

Among its major holdings are graphics processing units giant Nvidia and games developers Take-Two Interactive (GTA and Red Dead series), Electronic Arts (FIFA, Sims, Apex Legends), Activision Blizzard (Call of Duty series), and Roblox Corp (the company behind the hugely popular Roblox global platform).

VanEck notes that these companies are in a position to benefit from the increasing popularity of video games and eSports. Another positive is that it gives investors the opportunity to diversify their portfolio by providing quality tech options outside FAANG stocks such as Apple, Amazon, and Meta (Facebook).

The post 2 excellent ETFs for ASX investors in August appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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More reading

• Does the HACK ETF pay dividends?
• 3 quality ETFs for ASX investors in July
• 3 high quality ETFs for ASX investors to buy today
• Why I think these 2 ASX shares are steals
• Here’s why I think this cybersecurity ETF is a top buy in July

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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 BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has positions in and has recommended BETA CYBER ETF UNITS. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended VanEck Vectors ETF Trust – VanEck Vectors Video Gaming and eSports ETF. 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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