Elon Musk called for greater nickel production last week, sending the price of the metal skyward. Nickel is a key ingredient in batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs). Musk is looking to cut the cost of batteries, which are a major component of the price of EVs. The eccentric billionaire added that his company could offer a long-term contact for nickel producers, stating: “Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way.”

Nickel makes batteries more energy dense, so they can last longer between charges, increasing the range of electric vehicles. The nickel price fell from around US$14,000 a tonne at the start of the year to around US$11,000 a tonne in March on virus fears. Covid-19 subsequently disrupted mines and refineries globally, with a shortage of supply pushing the price back up to around US$13,500 a tonne currently. 

So, if you want to get on the nickel bandwagon, here are 2 ASX shares with exposure to the metal. 

Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA)

Western Areas is a leading nickel producer with 2 of the highest grade nickel mines in the world. The company has operations located 400km east of Perth in Western Australia (WA). It is currently developing a third mine 30km north of Leinster in WA. 

Western Areas released its quarterly activities report last week. The company produced 20,926 nickel tonnes in concentrate, which was 99.7% of guidance. According to the company, unplanned downtime throughout June relating to power supply accounted for the shortfall. Western Areas reports that it finished the FY20 financial year with $144.8 million cash at bank and no debt. The most significant cashflow item for the quarter was the $28.6 million paid for a 19.9% investment in Panoramic Resources Ltd (ASX: PAN). 

Panoramic Resources 

Panoramic Resources is a mining and exploration company with expertise in nickel, copper, and cobalt sulphide projects. It operates a nickel sulphide mine and processing plant in the East Kimberley region of WA, the Savannah Nickel Project. Panoramic decided to suspend operations at Savannah on 15 April. The decision was based on the combination of significant operational uncertainty, disruptions, and cost escalation caused by COVID-19 restrictions. Prior to the suspension, 16,459 tonnes of ore were mined.

Panoramic recently undertook a $128 million capital raising to repay debt facilities and provide funds for working capital purposes. This will also fund certain development activities at Savannah and some exploration activities. 

Foolish takeaway

EV producers are looking to reduce the use of cobalt in EVs due to soaring costs. This means they are turning to nickel. ASX nickel shares should see increasing demand as use of electric vehicles increases. 

More reading

• These shares were the ASX 200’s biggest losers last week
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX has week of high volatility
• These were the worst performing ASX 200 shares last week
• Western Areas share price drops 5% following quarterly report
• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX retreats as confidence wanes

Motley Fool contributor Kate O’Brien 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.

The post Elon Musk wants more nickel. Here are 2 ASX shares set to charge up on increased demand appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Are you looking for a little exposure to the small side of the market? If you are, you might want to add the small cap ASX shares listed below to your watchlists.

I think all three have the potential to be stars of the future. Here’s why I like them:

Alcidion Group Ltd (ASX: ALC)

Alcidion is a $150 million healthcare informatics solutions company. It provides software which has been designed to improve the efficacy and cost of delivering services to patients and reduce hospital-acquired complications. The company has a number of software solutions being used by healthcare institutions across the ANZ and UK. These include the Patientrack patient safety and communications system and the Miya Precision health analytics platform.

Clover Corporation Limited (ASX: CLV)

Clover is a $375 million specialist ingredients producer. It produces ingredients such as the highly sought-after omega-3 oils that go into infant formula, supplements, and baby food products. Clover has been growing at a strong rate over the last few years thanks largely to the increasing demand for ingredients from infant formula market. The good news is that this strong growth looks likely to continue over the coming years thanks to favourable changes to ingredient requirements in a number of key markets. This could make Clover a small cap to watch.

Mach7 Technologies Ltd (ASX: M7T)

Mach7 is a $230 million medical imaging data management solutions provider. It provides an Enterprise Imaging Platform that unlocks disparate archive silos, consolidates patient data, and simplifies sharing and access. This allows users to improve patient care, reach compliance goals, and deliver clinical and operational decision support enterprise wide. The company has also recently announced the acquisition of Client Outlook. Not only has the acquisition of the leading provider of enterprise image viewing technology bolstered its offering, it has lifted its total addressable market by US$2 billion to US$2.75 billion.

More reading

• Why Alcidion, Bubs, IGO, & Next Science shares are pushing higher
• 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch in FY 2021
• Extended jobkeeper: Which ASX shares to buy?
• Add these ASX small cap shares to your watchlist immediately
• 5 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of Alcidion Group Ltd, Clover Limited, and MACH7 FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Alcidion Group Ltd and MACH7 FPO. 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.

The post 3 exciting small cap ASX shares to watch in August appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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At lunch on Monday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to start the week with a decent gain. The benchmark index is currently up 0.25% to 6,038.2 points.

Here’s what has been happening on the market today:

Lynas signs contract with U.S. Department of Defense.

The Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price is rocketing higher on Monday after it announced a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. According to the announcement, the contract will see Lynas complete a detailed market and strategy study plus detailed planning and design work for the construction of a Heavy Rare Earth separation facility. There were doubts that Lynas would get the contract after some officials opposed the contract going to a foreign company.

Bank shares sink lower.

The big four banks have come under pressure and are acting as a drag on the ASX 200 index. All of the big four banks are dropping notably lower, but the Australia and New Zealand Banking GrpLtd (ASX: ANZ) share price is the worst performer with a 0.7% decline. Concerns over the spike in coronavirus cases appears to be weighing on investor sentiment.

Gold miners charge higher.

It has been a great day of trade for gold miners such as Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). Investors have been buying gold mining shares after the gold price broke through the US$1,900 an ounce level and hit a record high. The catalyst for this was concerns over rising tensions between the United States and China. The S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold index is up 3.8% at lunch.

Best and worst ASX 200 performers.

The best performer on the ASX 200 at lunch is the Lynas share price by some distance. It is up 12% after announcing its U.S. contract. The worst performer has been the Insurance Australia Group Ltd (ASX: IAG) share price with a 4% decline. This morning analysts at Macquarie retained their neutral rating but cut the price target on the insurance giant’s shares to $5.50. This follows the release of its FY 2020 update and dividend cancellation last week.

More reading

• Why Lynas, Northern Star, REA Group, & Sezzle shares are storming higher
• Why Bubs, IAG, Star Entertainment, & Webjet shares are dropping lower
• HUB24 and 2 more ASX 200 shares to watch this week
• Why the gold price just stormed to a record high
• These shares were the ASX 200’s biggest losers last week

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro 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.

The post ASX 200 up 0.25%: Lynas rockets on U.S. deal, gold miners surge, bank shares tumble appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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Thousands of Australian workers have shifted from the office to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are enjoying the change and considering the possibility of making it permanent. According to research by OnePoll, 78% of Australian office workers believe remote working will become the new normal when the country emerges from the pandemic. 

This will have downstream impacts for other industries from property and retail to technology. Tools that enable remote working will be in ever higher demand as use of office space falters. Technology that allows for digital collaboration is likely to experience increased usage while city-centre retailers could see trade stall. Here, we take a look at three ASX tech shares that are leveraged to the shift to remote working. 

3 ASX tech shares leveraged to remote working

Whispir Ltd (ASX: WSP) 

Whisper provides a software-as-a-service (SaaS) communications workflow platform which automates interactions between businesses and people. The company has more than 500 enterprise clients, including Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) which uses the platform to interact with Victorians about coronavirus. 

Demand for this ASX tech share’s products has been strong throughout the pandemic thanks to increasing requirements for communications software. A record 72 new customers were added during the June quarter. Many Whispir customers are utilising the platform to activate and coordinate their COVID-19 business continuity plans. 

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

Megaport operates in the network-as-a-service (NaaS) sector. The company provides bandwidth which allows users to connect to cloud services and data centres almost instantly. Businesses are able to create a network without complex configuration tasks, quickly building and deploying connections to the services they run on. 

Megaport has been growing its footprint into new markets and deepening its reach into existing markets. In 4Q FY20 the company established a presence in Denmark and Spain. This makes the Megaport platform available in 23 countries and 128 cities globally. In June, Megaport reported 1,842 customers including Amazon, Microsoft, eBay and Facebook. 

LiveTiles Ltd (ASX: LVT) 

LiveTiles supplies tools to create dashboards, employee portals, and corporate intranets. Its technologies can be used to extend underlying Microsoft platforms such as Office 365, SharePoint, and Azure. The ASX tech share creates value-adds and enhancements to the underlying platforms that address common business needs and priorities. 

LiveTiles’ annualised recurring revenue (ARR) reached $55.2 million at 31 March 2020, up from $52.7 million at 31 December 2019. ARR was up 60% over the year to March and 4.9x in two years. The company is well positioned in the current environment as a leader in internet software which is critical to remote working.  

More reading

• 3 unloved ASX growth shares that could make you rich
• 5 steps to start investing in ASX shares
• How are 2019’s tech IPOs performing?
• Megaport share price falls despite a strong quarterly update
• Why Marley Spoon and these ASX shares are hitting new highs

Kate O’Brien has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and recommends MEGAPORT FPO and Whispir Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of LIVETILES FPO. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended LIVETILES FPO, MEGAPORT FPO, and Whispir 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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In late morning trade the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has fought back from an early decline and is pushing higher. At the time of writing the benchmark index is up 0.2% to 6,034.2 points.

Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here’s why they are storming higher:

The Lynas Corporation Ltd (ASX: LYC) share price has jumped 12% to $2.43. Investors have been buying the rare earths producer’s shares after it announced a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. According to the release, the contract will see Lynas complete a detailed market and strategy study plus detailed planning and design work for the construction of a Heavy Rare Earth separation facility.

The Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price has climbed 3.5% to $16.04. Investors have been buying Northern Star’s shares after the gold price broke through the US$1,900 an ounce level and hit a record high. Traders were buying the precious metal amid concerns over rising tensions between the United States and China.

The REA Group Limited (ASX: REA) share price has risen over 3% to $110.90. This follows the release of a broker note out of Credit Suisse this morning. Although it has concerns over property volumes because of the pandemic, it expects price increases to support yield growth. And while the broker has retained its neutral rating, it has lifted its price target from $94.50 to $110.30.

The Sezzle Inc (ASX: SZL) share price is up 1.5% to $8.02. Investors have been buying the buy now pay later provider’s shares after the release of its second quarter update. During the second quarter, Sezzle delivered underlying merchant sales (UMS) of US$188 million. This was a 57.5% increase on the first quarter and a 348.6% lift on the prior corresponding period. This was driven by strong growth in customer and merchant numbers.

More reading

• Sezzle share price pushes higher after reporting stellar Q2 growth
• Why the gold price just stormed to a record high
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• New tailwind pushes gold price closer to record highs
• These BNPL shares have blown up since their IPOs

James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. recommends Sezzle Inc. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended REA Group Limited and Sezzle Inc. 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.

The post Why Lynas, Northern Star, REA Group, & Sezzle shares are storming higher appeared first on Motley Fool Australia.

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