The De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG) share price was up 25% on Wednesday, hitting a 9-year high of 84 cents. This came 2 days after the company announced positive drilling results at its Hemi site in Western Australia. 

What were the results?

The drilling result included near-surface, broad, and high grades intersected at Aquila. 

At another drilling location 400m West of Aquila, the company identified near-surface gold in aircore drilling. Drilling results included 33m @ 1.5g/t Au from 64m and 20m @ 0.9g/t Au from 46m. Follow-up drilling to test further depth and lateral extensions at Aquila has also commenced with 6 drill rigs now operating. 

De Grey Exploration Manager, Phil Tornatora, said:

“The Aquila style gold mineralisation identified in highly altered intrusion 400m to the West is an exciting and significant development as it opens up the overall strike potential of the deposit. The broad high grade mineralisation announced today is particularly encouraging demonstrating the potential to rapidly add to Aquila’s gold endowment.

“We are now targeting diamond drilling to extend Aquila to at least 300m below surface along the entire strike of the deposit. The potential to extend Aquila a further 400m to the West under an interpreted shallow veneer of sediments is an exciting development and will also be targeted. Similiar potential remains to be tested to the East under the sediment contact.

“Diamond core assays of depth extensions below the recent high grade intercepts are in the lab with results expected shortly. Stepout extension diamond drilling is on-going with a further 8 pre-collars already completed. A second RC rig arriving next week will help accelerate drilling on all mineralised zones at Hemi.”

The De Grey Mining share price

The De Grey Mining share price is up a massive 2041% since its 52-week low of .039 cents. Its share price has returned 1506% since the beginning of the year. The De Grey share price has almost doubled in June from 44 cents at the beginning of June to 84 cents on Wednesday.

More reading

• Why the risks of a market correction for the ASX 200 is rising
• PharmAust share price soars 22% on shareholder update
• 3 of the best ASX growth shares to buy today
• Should you wait for another market crash to invest in ASX shares?
• ASX 200 finishes higher, Afterpay hits new record

Motley Fool contributor Chris Chitty has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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ASX investors may feel like they are stuck in no-man’s land! The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index:^AXJO) is struggling to convincingly break above 6,000 but bargain hunters won’t let the market fall too much either.

It’s a nail biting time as we are torn between hope that the worst of the economic impact from COVID-19 is behind us and fear that the share market is caught in irrational exuberance.  

While I am siding the bulls in this Mexican standoff, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) is warning that the risks of a market correction are rising.

Swamped by a second wave

There are three reasons why the broker believes the S&P 500 will fall, which will likely pull our market down too.

First is the prospect of a second wave of coronavirus infections. Macquarie doesn’t think the chance of a significant rise in COVID-19 cases is very high and a second wave of shutdowns is unlikely.

But it did note that Google data points to an increasing risk of this happening with searches for COVID-19 on the rise. There is a 93% correlation between such searches and the S&P 500, although this correlation has been weaker in more recent times.

Liquidity risk

The second factor is the US Federal Reserve (Fed), which recently withdrew liquidity from the market.

“The Fed’s balance sheet contracted last week, driven by reductions in Repo and Swaps,” said Macquarie.

“As both were introduced to ensure smooth market functioning, the market has been less concerned by these falls.

“But when Fed liquidity has been a key support for equities, further shrinking of the Fed’s balance sheet would add to the risk of a correction.”

Optimistic valuations

Lastly, valuations are causing concern to the broker who noted that the forward price-earnings (P/E) for the ASX 200 is 19.3x. This is 3% above its pre-pandemic high.

Even if you looked out the following year, the forecast P/E dips to 17 times, and that’s a mere 4% below the high before COVID-19.

“High valuations alone do not cause a correction, but they do make the market more susceptible to negative surprises,” added Macquarie.

“Too rapid withdrawal of fiscal stimulus would be a negative surprise for the market.”

Reasons to be optimistic

The warning from the broker isn’t what many investors want to hear, but there is a silver lining. If we do experience a big pullback, the fall may not be as bad as the bears are anticipating.

The broker estimates that the S&P 500 would fall by 6% to 7% but the ASX will not fall as much as it’s managing the coronavirus risks better.

Further, the earnings per share (EPS) rebound is going better than what many sceptics expect.

“Net EPS revisions have shown a V-shaped recovery, supporting stocks. From a low of nearly 80% net EPS downgrades on April 22, net EPS downgrades were down to 15% on June 22,” said Macquarie.

This means the August profit reporting season may not turn out to be a disaster, as what many fear. Macquarie’s estimates suggest net revisions could continue to improve in the upcoming results season.

All the more reason to buy the dips!

More reading

• Should you wait for another market crash to invest in ASX shares?
• ASX 200 finishes higher, Afterpay hits new record
• The latest ASX 200 stocks to be slapped with a broker downgrade
• 3 ASX shares I’d buy if the market crashes again
• Is the share market facing another February 2020 moment?

Motley Fool contributor Brendon Lau owns shares of Macquarie Group Limited. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Macquarie Group Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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 PharmAust Limited (ASX: PAA) share price had an impressive run on the market today, finishing 22.22% higher at 16.5 cents.

PharmAust is a clinical-stage oncology company that is developing targeted cancer therapeutics for humans and animals. 

The company’s lead drug candidate is monepantel (MPL), a novel inhibitor of the mTOR pathway which is a key driver of cancer.

Today’s rise comes as the company released a shareholder update, which summarised recent developments:

MPL shows “remarkable” results against COVID-19

In April, PharmAust began working with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research to investigate the effects of MPL and monepantel sulfone (MPLS) on the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 infections.

As disclosed in an ASX release on 18 June 2020, repeat experiments demonstrated that “infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles can be suppressed by up to 95% in cell structures by either MPL or MPLS”.

Commenting on the results, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher Professor Marc Pellegrini said:

“These exciting repeat results validate the results of the initial test and form strong grounds for progressing the drug to the next step. Demonstrating twice, that infectivity of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles can be suppressed by up to approximately 95% in cell cultures is a remarkable outcome.”

As for next steps, PharmAust will prepare an executive summary and investigator’s brochure to permit discussions with clinicians about a Phase I trial. The trial would involve a small number of human patients to test the efficacy of MPL as a treatment for COVID-19.

MPL canine trial achieves successful anti-cancer outcome

The next section of today’s shareholder update relates to a canine trial. 

As announced on 12 May, PharmAust achieved a successful outcome in the veterinary Phase II clinical trial investigating the effects of MPL on dogs with treatment-naïve B cell lymphoma.

The company advised today that a dossier will be presented to the MPL compound owner and option partner, Vet Major, in July 2020. This will provide Vet Major with the opportunity to activate its 6-month exclusive option over the licensing of MPL for veterinary uses.

Phase II human cancer trial

PharmAust also confirmed today it continues to make progress towards the evaluation of MPL in human trials.

The company completed a Phase I clinical trial at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2015.

PharmAust has since conducted further tablet formulation and pharmacokinetic studies. It has also investigated changes in tablet size to enable more specific targeting of calculated optimum dose levels.

With this, the company is aiming to conduct a third GMP-grade manufacture program for MPL tablets in or around Q3 2020 to cater to future human trials.

PharmAust is also seeking to identify a suitable clinical oncology unit to evaluate the new MPL tablet in humans in a Phase II trial.

Epichem

Finally, PharmAust provided an update on its wholly-owned subsidiary, Epichem. 

Epichem is a profitable medicinal and synthetic chemistry company with expertise and capacity in the field of drug development, discovery, and design.

Today, PharmAust revealed that Epichem is on track to deliver $3.46 million revenue in FY20. This is an increase on the $3.34 million projected revenue forecast provided back in January.

After today’s jump, PharmAust’s market capitalisation is sitting a touch under $50 million. If you’d rather invest in much larger and more liquid companies, check out the ASX growth shares in the free report below.

More reading

• 3 of the best ASX growth shares to buy today
• Should you wait for another market crash to invest in ASX shares?
• ASX 200 finishes higher, Afterpay hits new record
• Bellevue Gold share price hits record high on metallurgical testing
• 3 ASX payments shares that could double your money

Motley Fool contributor Cathryn Goh has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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There certainly are a large number of growth shares for investors to choose from on the ASX.

Three which I think are among the best the local market has on offer are named below. Here’s why I would buy them:

a2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M)

I think a2 Milk Company is a growth share to buy. It has been growing at a very strong rate over the last few years and looks well-positioned to continue this positive trend for some time to come. This is thanks to the strong demand it continues to experience for its infant formula products and its expanding fresh milk footprint. In addition to this, there is speculation that a2 Milk Company could be looking to put its sizeable cash balance to work. This could mean an earnings accretive acquisition will be coming in the near future. Alternatively, there is the option for a2 Milk Company to bolster its portfolio with new product launches.

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

Another growth share I would buy is Appen. It is a leading developer of high-quality, human annotated datasets for machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). Appen prepares the data for the models of some of the world’s biggest tech companies such as Microsoft and Facebook. I believe these high quality customers are a testament to the quality of its service. Pleasingly, given the importance of AI and machine learning for businesses, I expect demand for its services to remain strong for a long time to come.

Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL)

This gaming technology company is another growth share which I think could provide strong returns for investors in the future.  While Aristocrat’s performance has been impacted greatly by the closure of casinos, I believe it will bounce back strongly when the crisis passes. This is thanks to its industry-leading poker machines and its growing digital business. The latter has been a big winner from the pandemic and is generating material recurring revenues thanks to increased mobile gaming.

More reading

• Australian businesses are running out of cash
• Here are 3 top ASX tech shares to buy with $5,000 today
• The Appen share price just hit a record high: Is it too late to invest?
• Is the share market facing another February 2020 moment?
• Where to invest $10,000 in ASX 200 shares for 2030

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of A2 Milk and Appen Ltd. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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As most of us would be aware of by now, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (INDEXASX: XJO) had a fairly nasty market crash this year. Between 20 February and 23 March, the ASX 200 fell by more than 36%. It was the worst ASX crash since the global financial crisis and the fastest fall for the ASX 200 in history.

But since then, ASX 200 shares have rebounded strongly. Since 23 March, the ASX 200 has risen more than 30% and is now sitting 12.5% below where it started the year.

Now, before the March crash, there were a lot of investors (myself included) who thought ASX shares may have run away somewhat and entered ‘overvalued’ territory. The obvious solution to this problem was to stack cash in anticipation of lower share prices in the future.

But the March crash was so rapid that it took many investors (again, myself included) off guard. I managed to buy some ASX shares for some great prices, but in hindsight, I wasn’t able to take advantage of the situation as much as I would have liked to.

So that leads me to the question: should we always wait for a crash to buy a decent amount of shares? Or is this a fool’s game (and not the good kind of Fool).

Should we wait for an ASX 200 market crash?

In theory, it’s optimal to buy shares at the cheapest prices you can. In practice, none of us knows when this will occur. If you missed the bottom of the market during the crash in 2008–09, you would have had to wait until March 2020 for another real crash to take advantage of. That’s 11 long years to wait and a lot of gains to miss out on.

So what is an investor to do? Well, you can always have a foot in both camps; black and blue. I personally like to keep between 10-30% of my portfolio in cash at all times. If I get to the 30% threshold, I’ll usually start dollar-cost averaging into ASX shares until the 30% level is reached again or there is a significant buying opportunity (like we saw in March). If I don’t get to 30% I’ll just keep piling up cash and dividends until I do.

Now, everyone will have a different way of addressing this problem. You may like my way or find your own way better for your particular temperament. But, as long as you have a strategy that won’t leave you wanting something you don’t have if, and when, the markets do crash, you’ll be just fine.

More reading

• ASX 200 finishes higher, Afterpay hits new record
• The latest ASX 200 stocks to be slapped with a broker downgrade
• 3 ASX shares I’d buy if the market crashes again
• Is the share market facing another February 2020 moment?
• Can the Newcrest share price crest to new highs?

Motley Fool contributor Sebastian Bowen has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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) rose by another 0.2% today to 5,966 points.

Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price hits a new record

The Afterpay share price briefly soared above $62 this morning. It ended the day up 0.5%, finishing at around $59.50.

UK growth was the cause of the share price jump. Clearpay is the name of UK business.

Clearpay has seen customer purchasing frequency in the UK outpacing US customer purchasing frequency at the same stage of the lifecycle. UK customers are transacting more than eight times within the first year compared to US customers which purchase six times during the first year.

More than 1,100 brands and retailers are offering Clearpay, or are in the process of offering Clearpay, to their customers.

Some of the recent brands added to Clearpay are: Elemis, Bare Minerals, ISAWITFIRST, Apricot, Size, Koibird and Sana Jardin. Existing brands utilising Clearpay are ASOS, M&S, JD Sports and Boohoo.

In May 2020, Clearpay had more than 3 million app and site visits. Clearpay’s shop directory contributed over 1.5 million lead referrals to its retail partners. This represents an increase of 40% to 50% of the weekly run rate from January and February.

The ASX 200 buy now, pay later business has been on a strong run since March 2020. The Afterpay share price has gone up 567% in that time.

Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) reintroduces purchasing limits

There has been increased supermarket buying again in Victoria as fears mount about COVID-19 spreading.

Can you guess what one of the products in high demand is? That’s right, toilet paper.

Other items to have purchasing limits include hand sanitiser, flour, sugar, eggs and rice.

But Victoria’s chief health officer and Woolworths have said there isn’t any need to panic buy.

CSR Limited (ASX: CSR) trading update

CSR held its AGM update today and gave an update.

For the first 11 weeks of FY21 the building products division has seen Australian revenue fall 3%. Including the impact of New Zealand COVID-19 restrictions, the decline is 5%.

Projects which started prior to COVID-19 continue to support the revenue. However, current lead indicators such as new home sales in Australia during April and May are down 19% compared to the same period last year. Lower activity is expected later in the year.

In the property division, the first tranche of the Horsley Park transaction remains on track to deliver $80 million in proceeds and $53 million in earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) in the second half of this year.

DEXUS Property Group (ASX: DXS) announces property sale

Dexus has announced the sale of 45 Clarence Street, Sydney for $530 million. This sale price matches the property’s book value at 31 December 2019.

It’s a 28-level officer tower with 32,000 square metres located in the western corridor of Sydney’s financial district. At 31 December 2019 the property was 100% occupied and had a weighted average lease expiry (WALE) of 3.3 years.

The ASX 200 property business decided to sell the building after receiving an off-market, unsolicited offer from Peakstone – a Singapore headquartered manager.

Dexus intends to initially repay debt with the money. But it could enable Dexus to recycle capital into higher returning opportunities which could become more prevalent over the coming period.

Freedom Foods Group Ltd (ASX: FNP) share price drops, goes into trading halt

The Freedom Foods share price has fallen 14.5% today. Today the food business announced that the managing director and CEO, Mr Rory Macleod, is on leave pending another announcement that’s expected to be made early next week.

Yesterday the market learned that the ASX 200 share’s chief financial officer and company secretary, Mr Campbell, Nicholas had resigned.

This afternoon Freedom Foods went into a trading halt pending an announcement about its financial performance. The trading halt will remain in place until the morning of 26 June 2020.

More reading

• Should you wait for another market crash to invest in ASX shares?
• 3 ASX payments shares that could double your money
• The latest ASX 200 stocks to be slapped with a broker downgrade
• Australian businesses are running out of cash
• 3 ASX shares I’d buy if the market crashes again

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of AFTERPAY T FPO and Woolworths Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Freedom Foods Group Limited. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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 Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL) share price hit record highs today. The $1.22 share price comes after an update on its Western Australia metallurgical tests. 

The test results

The company revealed what it called “exceptionally strong results” from metallurgical tests. These included overall gravity and leach recoveries from all lodes averaging 97.8%. The gravity-only component from all lodes saw results ranging from 73.6% to 91.7%. 

The announcement read:

The testwork confirmed that the Bellevue lodes are exceptional in respect to extracting gold using conventional gravity and CIL processing flowsheets. The testwork is also in line with original production at the Bellevue Lode between 1988-1996, which reportedly averaged ~96% recovery from the gravity and CIL circuits.

Bellvue also completed geotechnical, visual inspections and test work programs to prepare for underground re-entry of the WA site. According to the company, testwork revealed favourable conditions for standard ground support requirements. Tender reviews assisted in preparation for underground rehabilitation and development requirements.

The company announced that it had appointed industry-recognised mining consultant, Entech as study manager to advance the project.

According to the company; “Bellevue is also pleased to advise that it has made significant progress on several fronts as part of its preparation for development.”

Strong results across the board at Bellevue

A 10,000-metre regional discovery drilling also commenced along the highly-prospective 20km Bellevue mineralised corridor.

Bellevue Managing Director Steve Parsons said, “We have established a 2.2Moz resource at 11.3gpt, we have just hit high-grade gold 7km away from the resource and we are now finalising a maiden indicated resource,

These exceptional recovery rates, combined with the economic studies and other preparations underway, will position us to develop a project in a Tier One location with very high grades and a host of other extremely attractive features.

“All work that has been conducted on the underground infrastructure, points to a very low level of capital intensity for mechanised re-entry which is an amazing result given underground entry has not occurred in over 23 years. The 3D LIDAR survey highlights the competency of the surrounding ground conditions.

The company reported the dewatering program would allow it to drill underground in Q4 of 2020.

The Bellevue Gold share price

The Bellevue Gold share price is up 13% on Wednesday to $1.22 at the time of writing. It has recovered 325% from its 52-week low of 28 cents with its WA project news likely coming into play. The share price is up 118.5% year to date. 

More reading

• Why I think Bellevue shares are ‘gold’ for your portfolio
• Gold mining shares – these are the facts and myths
• ASX winners and losers from last week
• My share investing journey during the pandemic
• High gold price a boon for Silver Lake after latest drilling results

Motley Fool contributor Chris Chitty has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. 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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