Midday Market Movers

Stocks making the biggest moves at noon: Nufarm, Pro Medicus, The Star and more

Tue 04 Feb 25, 12:08pm (AEDT)
Farm Crops
Source: iStock

These are the ASX companies and sectors making headlines in afternoon trade.

The S&P/ASX 200 is trading 38 points higher or 0.46% higher on Tuesday, recovering some of yesterday's -1.34% selloff.

Predictive Discovery (ASX: PDI) – Shares in the Guinea-based gold explorer rallied 12.0% after the company successfully raised $69.2 million via a private placement at 26.5 cents per share. This represented a nil discount to its previous close. PDI received strategic investments from the Lundin family ($45.1m for a 6.5% stake) and Zijin Mining ($24.1m for a 3.5% stake).

Nufarm (ASX: NUF) – Shares rallied 4.9% after the company provided a positive trading update at its AGM, including:

  • Demand for crop protection products has been strong and, although active ingredient prices have not moved materially

  • Seeing benefits of stability in cost of goods on crop protection margins

  • Expect to achieve $100m in omega-3 revenue in FY25

  • Cost saving and inventory reduction initiatives that were announced at the FY24 result are on track

  • Identified $50m of annualised cost savings; full impact of these savings expected to be realised in FY26

Pro Medicus (ASX: PME) – Shares rallied 3.7% to fresh all-time highs after the company secured a 7-year, $53 million contract with Florida’s BayCare health system to deploy its Visage 7 imaging platform. The full rollout is expected by late 2025.

The Star (ASX: SGR) – Shares rose 4.1% amid speculation that Blackstone is considering acquiring the company, according to The Australian. Sources say that the opportunity to gain The Star's gaming machines is a key attraction for the alternative asset manager. Although they would likely wait to make a move on The Star after it has entered voluntary administration.

Xref (ASX: XF1) – Shares dipped another 22.5% after a 24% selloff on Monday. The company's scheme with Seek has been terminated after Xref failed to meet the 75% minimum threshold for the takeover. Seek offered 21.8 cents per share, which was a 52% premium to where the stock was trading before the offer.

Tech is the best performing sector on Tuesday, bouncing after the tariff-driven selloff on Monday. Stocks including Megaport (+4.6%), Siteminder (+4.0%), NextDC (+2.7%) and TechnologyOne (+2.4%) are leading the gains.

Written By

Kerry Sun

Content Strategist

Kerry holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Monash University. He is an avid swing trader, focused on technical set ups and breakouts. Outside of writing and trading, Kerry is a big UFC fan, loves poker and training Muay Thai. Connect via LinkedIn or email.

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