ASX 200 Live Today - Friday, 30th May

Welcome to our live ASX coverage for Friday, May 30. We’re excited to be trialing this new format. Be sure to refresh manually for the latest updates — and let us know how we can make it even better.

---

ASX 200 closes at three-month high

[4:15 pm] The S&P/ASX 200 continued to crawl higher, closing 0.30% higher and near best levels. The session was relatively choppy, where the index fell as much as 0.35% in early trade, but spent most of the session trending higher.

Sector performance was relatively defensive, with Utilities (+1.1%), Staples (+0.9%), Financials (+0.7%) and Real Estate (+0.5%) leading to the upside, offset by weakness in Energy (-1.3%), Tech (-0.5%) and Discretionary (-0.4%).

Markets continue to tick higher on what feels like uneven ground, weighed by risks such as high bond yields, US fiscal concerns and Trump's tariff mayhem. Still, there are plenty of bullish drivers, including ongoing tariff de-escalation, Nvidia's bumper Q1 earnings and the growing likelihood of another RBA rate cut in July.

---

Pilbara Minerals nears 4-year low

[3:30 pm] Its been a painful week for lithium bellwether Pilbara Minerals. The stock is down 5.7% today and -10.3% this week, trading at levels not seen since June 2021.

Spodumene prices have continued to slip, with prices down 0.4% on Friday to US$625 a tonne (CIF). At the beginning of the month, prices were still fetching approximately US$765 a tonne, according to the Shanghai Metals Market.

To add some perspective, Pilbara Minerals reported unit operating costs (CIF) of US$499 a tonne in the March quarter.

---

Retail sales' sluggish recovery – AMP

[2:35 pm] Here is AMP Economist My Bui's take on today's Australian retail spending data.

• Australia’s retail spending underwhelmed expectations for the third consecutive month, outright falling 0.1% over April. Economists were looking for a 0.3% bounce back in sales this month because:

  • Q1 retail volumes had already gone backwards in per capita terms,

  • Consumers have started to get some relief from the February rate cut,

  • Queenslanders spent more than usual this month following the ex-cyclone Alfred, and

  • The double long weekend (Easter & ANZAC Day) meant that more people were supposed to travel and spend!

• Despite these factors, retail sales pulled back and clearly showed that consumers remained very cautious about spending, especially on discretionary items. Overall, real retail spending per person has stagnated since the beginning of the year, after improving throughout 2024. We are now roughly back to where we were a year ago

---

Stocks moving on unusual volume

[2:15 pm] These are the S&P/ASX 200 and small-to-mid caps ($200m - $1bn) stocks experiencing unusual volume, as a % of their 20-day average volumes.

---

Catapult extends surge on Morgan Stanley upgrade

[1:00 pm] Catapult shares hit another fresh all-time high, up 7.7% after Morgan Stanley hiked its target price by 35% to $6.00.

In a client note, Morgan Stanley analysts express optimism about Catapult's growth, driven by a rapidly expanding wearable and sports video tech market, projected to grow from $2.1–$3.2 billion at a 5% CAGR through 2027. They expect Catapult to outpace this with 16% annual revenue growth and increasing operating leverage, maintaining an overweight rating on the stock.

Catapult shares are now up 32% in the last eight sessions. On Wednesday, 21 May, the company announced a bumped FY25 result.

The key numbers from the result include:

• Revenue up 16.5% to $116.5m vs. $116.8m ests (0.2% miss)

• Gross margin down 10 bps to 81% vs. 79.7% ests (13 bp beat)

• Management EBITDA of $14.8m vs. $13.3m ests (11.2% beat)

• Management EBITDA margin almost tripled to 12.7% (FY24: 4.2%) vs. 11.5% ests (12 bp beat)

• ACV up 18% to $101.2m vs. $103.1m ests (1.8% miss)

---

Lynas signs MoU for supply of mixed rare earths

[11:55] Lynas shares rallied (3.0%, up from 1.1% gain prior to the announcement) after the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the supply of mixed rare earths carbonate from Menteri Besar.

The MoU is non-binding and subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements.

Under this MoU, Lynas and MB will jointly seek to strengthen and develop co-operation for the growth of the Malaysian rare earths industry in the State of Kelantan.

Source: ASX Announcement | Company page: Lynas Rare Earths (LYC)

---

Australian Retail Spending Slows

[11:30 am] Australian retail sales fell 0.1% month-on-month in April, below market expectations of a 0.3% increase and a 0.3% rise in May.

"Clothing retailers told us that the warmer-than-usual weather for an April month saw people holding off on buying clothing items, especially new winter season stock," said Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics.

"The rise in food-related spending was driven by more dining out in Queensland this month. The bounce-back comes after adverse weather negatively impacted cafe and restaurant sales," he added.

The data has had a minimal impact on retail stocks, with most names trading flat-ish on Friday.

Source: ABS

---

Small caps making moves

[11:00 am] Here are the top small caps ($200m to $1bn market cap) winners and losers as we head towards noon.

---

Top gainers and losers at open

[10:30 am] Here are the top S&P/ASX 200 gainers and losers in early trade.

---

Citi switches uranium miner preference from Boss to Paladin

[10:30 am] Citi has switched its uranium preference to Paladin over Boss, while retaining Buy ratings for both.

"Boss Energy has outperformed Paladin Energy by over 70% since December 2024, reflecting strong execution and a low-cost profile – but much of this looks priced in at ~1.3x price/NAV," the analysts said in a note this morning.

The report said Paladin remains approximately 1 standard deviation oversold, relative to moves in uranium prices. This underperformance stems from poor operational performance sand flooding issues over the past year.

Citi expects mean reversion here, assisted by a few more positive operational results, like the company's latest March quarter report.

"With uranium entering its next bull-phase, we see a narrow window to accumulate miners before replacement-rate contracting starts in a structurally undersupplied market," they said.

---

HealthCo Healthcare and Wellness REIT surges on partial rent deferral agreement

[10:15 am] Shares in HealthCo Healthcare and Wellness REIT surged 15% in early trade after the company entered into a short-term partial rent deferral agreement with Healthscope and its receivers.

Under this agreement, HCW will receive 85% of the rent due for the period June-August 2025 and the remaining 15% deferred rent for the May-August 2025 period is due in September 2025.

In addition, the landlords (UHF) have commenced discussions with Healthscope and its receivers regarding the Healthscope sale process.

For context, Healthscope, Australia’s second-largest private hospital operator, has been grappling with significant financial challenges, primarily due to a $1.6 billion debt burden. The company has faced difficulties meeting lease obligations, prompting breach notices from HCW and UHF, who are landlords for 11 of Healthscope’s hospitals.

Source: ASX Announcement | Company page: Healthco Healthcare and Wellness REIT (HCW)

---

APRA's monthly banking statistics

[10:00 am] APRA just released its monthly authorised deposit-taking institution statistics. Here are the key highlights:

Housing - Owner Occupied Loans (Total $1.572tn):

• AMP $13.9bn (market share 0.88% vs month-ago 0.88%)

• ANZ Bank $209.9bn (13.35% vs. 13.33%)

• Bank of Queensland $39.7bn (2.53% vs. 2.56%)

• Bendigo & Adelaide Bank $50.0bn (3.18% vs 3.19%)

• CBA $387.0bn (24.61% vs 24.64%)

• Macquarie Bank $86.7bn (5.51% vs 5.44%)

• NAB $219.6bn (13.96% vs 13.95%)

• Westpac $321.1bn (20.43% vs 20.50%)

Housing - Investment Loans (Total $741.4bn):

• AMP $8.2bn (market share 1.11% vs month-ago 1.11%)

• ANZ Bank $104.4bn (14.08% vs 14.10%)

• Bank of Queensland $17.1bn (2.31% vs 2.33%)

• Bendigo & Adelaide Bank $15.1bn (2.03% vs 2.05%)

• CBA $198.9bn (26.84% vs 26.81%)

• Macquarie Bank $52.2bn (7.05% vs 6.98%)

• NAB $110.9bn (14.96% vs 14.97%)

• Westpac $163.0bn (21.98% vs 22.05%)

Source: APRA

---

A very quiet session

[9:50 am] Expect a fairly uneventful session after the dicey overnight session (lots of moving parts to US tariffs, downbeat US economic data). I wouldn't be surprised to see the market trade in a relatively narrow range, given the lack of directional drivers.

Company announcements are notably sparse this morning, likely due to the combined effect of it being Friday and the last day of May. make it smoother

---

Victorian Government greenlights Viva's Geelong LNG terminal

[9:40 am] Viva Energy has received a positive environmental assessment from the Victorian Government for its proposed LNG terminal in Geelong.

Victorian Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny determined that the project can proceed with acceptable environmental impacts, subject to conditions.

The project now advances to the Final Investment Decision (FID) phase. Viva Energy aims to deliver first gas by the Victorian winter of 2028, with major activities planned for late 2026 and 2027.

The company is also collaborating with potential partners to structure the project’s debt and equity financing.

---

Findi reports record FY25

[9:25 am] India-based digital payments company Findi reported its FY25 results, highlighting positive momentum across key metrics.

• Total revenue up 13.5% to $75.5m vs. guidance $68-70m

• EBITDA up 14.4% to $31.4m vs. $30-32m guidance

• Underlying net profit before tax up 54.5% to $6.0m

• Net cash generated from operating activities of $27.5m

• Net cash position of $30.2m

In terms of outlook commentary, the company noted:

• Reserve Bank of India increased interchange fees, which came into effect on 1 May (a tailwind for Findi's White Label business)

• India IPO remains on track for 2026

• Expects to provide FY26 revenue and earnings guidance in July, though the company previous guided to "over 140% revenue growth in FY26"

Source: ASX Announcement | Company page: Findi (FND)

---

Champion Iron FY25 takeaways

[9:20 am] Champion Iron shares traded relatively flat (+0.47%) on Thursday, following the release of its FY25 results.

Macquarie analysts said the company reported in-line revenue and EBITDA, but a miss on EPS due to higher depreciation and net interest charges. The investment bank retained an Outperform rating and $6.10 target price.

Meanwhile Bell Potter analysts retained a Buy rating, but lowered their target price from $6.20 to $5.80.

"High-grade price premiums remain relatively low, impacted by weak global steel mill profitability. Realised prices were also impacted by increased spot sales into China, ahead of new offtake agreements for the high-grade DRPF production (69% Fe) expected to ramp-up in 2026," the analysts said in a note this morning.

---

Meeka Metals targets first gold in mid-2025

[9:05 am] Meeka Metals says process plant expansion and upgrade works at its Murchison Gold Project is nearing completion, with commissioning scheduled for June 2025 and first gold targeted for mid-2025.

Murchison is expected to deliver average gold sales of 65koz per annum over the first seven years of production. The company currently has no hedging in place and retains full exposure to the gold price, where every $100/oz increase translates to a $52m increase in pre-tax free cash flow.

Meeka was one of the better performing gold stocks, up 75% in the past twelve months. Though the stock has slipped 12% over the past month.

Source: ASX Announcement | Company page: Meeka Metals (MEK)

---

NRW awarded Rio Tinto contract

[9:00 am] NRW subsidiary Primero has been awarded a contract by Rio Tinto for its Hope Downs iron ore project.

The contract has an approximately value of $157 million and scheduled for completion by December 2026. Design and procurement work will commence immediately.

These types of awards for NRW tend to have a negligible (or slightly upward) impact on the share price.

Source: ASX Announcement | Company page: NRW Holdings (NWH)

---

US GDP shrinks on weaker spending

[8:55 am] US first quarter GDP fell 0.2% quarter-on-quarter vs. consensus expectations of a 0.3% decline, while annualised GDP was 2.1% vs. 2.0% consensus.

Despite the better-than-feared numbers, consumer spending was up just 1.2% vs. 1.7% consensus, down from 1.8% in 4Q24. This marks the weakest pace of consumer spending growth in almost two years.

In addition, net exports subtracted nearly five percentage points from the GDP calculation, the largest on record.

---

Top stories from Livewire

Buy Hold Sell: Five overlooked growth stocks | Ellerston’s James Barker and Ausbil’s Andrew Peros talk five ASX-listed companies with explosive growth potential, including tech innovators and healthcare disruptors.

"The pigs are flying": where to find growth opportunities right now | Trump's second term unleashed a rollercoaster in markets, with initial euphoria over deregulation and tax cuts giving way to panic over unexpectedly harsh tariffs, creating a golden opportunity for active managers like Schroders' Sebastian Mullins. Their Real Return Active ETF (GROW) thrives in this chaos, dynamically blending global stock picks with diversified assets like gold and corporate bonds to navigate the volatility.

Five companies powering China’s next tech cycle | China's tech giants like Alibaba, Tencent, CATL, BYD, and Xiaomi are shifting from infrastructure buildup to global leadership, embedding AI, advanced batteries, and full-stack EV ecosystems into high-value markets with unmatched scale and execution. These companies aren't chasing trends but are strategically commercializing innovations, from Alibaba's AI-powered cloud to BYD's self-reliant EV empire, redefining China's role as a tech pacesetter.

---

What's driving stocks?

[8:50 am] Major US benchmarks finished broadly higher but off session highs. Breadth was mixed, with the Equal-weight S&P 500 underperforming the official benchmark by 16 bps

• Initial optimism driven by US Court of International Trade declared that Trump had wrongly invoked a 1977 law in imposing his “Liberation Day” tariffs, rendering them illegal

• However, a federal appeals court paused the ruling, citing harm to US diplomacy and intrusion of Trump's authority

• Nvidia shares gained 3.2% after its first-quarter earnings beat market expectations, with a solid guidance despite new export restrictions costing U$6bn in Chinese revenue

• US first quarter GDP fell 0.2% quarter-on-quarter (vs. 0.3% ests), largely driven by weaker-than-expected consumer spending

---

Good morning!

[8:40 am] S&P/ASX 200 futures are down 17 pts (-0.20%) after a volatile session on Wall Street.

If you’re new to the blog – catch up quick via today’s Morning Wrap.