Just a week after questioning whether the AI-fuelled US rally was beginning to look a little frothy, the market delivered a fairly emphatic response.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq copped a hiding last Friday, tumbling 4 per cent in its worst single-day performance in more than a year.
At its low this week, the top-performing index was down more than 7 per cent since the start of June, wiping hundreds of billions of dollars from the world's biggest technology names and raising the obvious question: is this merely a healthy correction, or the first crack in AI’s previously infallible armour?
Despite the sell-off, investors remain transfixed by tonight's long-awaited SpaceX debut.
Should the float perform as expected, it will also create the world's first trillionaire. Elon Musk's net worth is expected to push somewhere between US$1 trillion and US$1.1 trillion (A$1.55 trillion to A$1.71 trillion) by midnight.
Interestingly, the world’s first centibillionaire (US$100 billion) was Bill Gates way back in 1999, after he briefly cracked the mark ahead of the 2000 dot-com bubble. A mark that would not be surpassed again until 2018, by Jeff Bezos.
Aussie markets were handed a reprieve on Monday courtesy of the King’s Birthday public holiday, although the extra day off ultimately did little to stem the bleeding. Geopolitical tensions once again stole the spotlight after US President Donald Trump authorised what the White House described as "self-defence strikes" against Iranian assets following reports an Apache helicopter had been downed near the Strait of Hormuz.
The prospect of another escalation in the Middle East sent traders scrambling back into the energy trade. Oil prices ballooned almost immediately, reigniting inflation concerns just as central banks were beginning to feel more comfortable about the trajectory of global prices.
While US inflation data largely landed in line with economists' expectations, it still felt uncomfortably sticky given the backdrop.
Commodities broadly struggled under the weight of inflation fears, with gold taking the brunt of the punishment. The precious metal shed more than 7 per cent during the week and at one stage threatened to break below US$4000 (A$6200) an ounce for the first time in seven months.
In typical Trump fashion, the mood shifted almost as quickly as it had deteriorated.
By Friday, the President was assuring markets there was "nothing to see here", shelving plans for further strikes and suggesting a deal with Iran could be imminent. Trump told reporters at the White House he expected a signing ceremony to take place in Europe this weekend – just in time for the SpaceX debut…
Our Runners of the Week list was understandably bleak. Resource stocks struggled to attract attention despite a steady stream of stellar news, while the market's obsession with AI and IPO-related opportunities remained firmly intact. Unsurprisingly, those themes once again dominated the podium, with a standout AI claiming the top honours.
333D LIMITED (ASX: T3D)
Up 400% (2.2c – 11c)
Bulls N' Bears Runner of the Week goes to medical imaging and AI aspirant 333D Limited, whose shares exploded more than fivefold on Tuesday after the company unveiled a strategic investment in Australian AI infrastructure player Firmus.
333D has tipped $150,000 into Firmus Grid, a rapidly emerging AI data centre operator backed by NVIDIA that recently completed a US$505 million capital raise at a reported US$5.5 billion valuation. Firmus has also flagged ambitions to list on the ASX later this year.
The investment gives 333D exposure to one of the fastest-growing corners of the technology market, as surging global demand for artificial intelligence drives unprecedented spending on the digital infrastructure needed to power it.
In recent years, 333D has reinvented itself from a 3D printing company into a medical imaging and blockchain-enabled data management business, with a growing focus on AI-powered healthcare applications and digital asset services.
It’s a business built on turning clinical imaging into structured, usable - and potentially commercial - data assets.
The company continues to advance its proprietary AI clinical software platform, which leverages an extensive DICOM medical imaging database to develop next-generation healthcare solutions. Development is progressing under a staged technical and regulatory pathway designed to meet Therapeutic Goods Administration requirements for software-based medical devices.
With one foot in healthcare AI and the other now planted firmly in AI infrastructure, investors clearly liked the new angle 333D is headed in.
BORESIGHT LIMITED (ASX: BST)
Up 260% (20c – 72c)
Snagging silver on the week was yet another Runners/ASX debutant in defence technology, Boresight Limited.
The company listed on Wednesday after raising $8 million at 20c per share, and it would seem the stock was in tight supply, with it absolutely flying off the shelves on day one.
The fever pitch continued throughout the week as the lone patch of green in a sea of red surged higher each day, closing at 73c on Friday – up an eye-watering 260 per cent on its issue price.
The company says it produces cost-effective uncrewed aerial systems specifically designed for government, military and security forces.
Boresight was spun out of privately owned Canberra defence technology group Criterion Solutions in 2020 and has carved out a niche in manufacturing low-cost drones designed to simulate real-world aerial threats for military training exercises.
The company generates revenue through reseller agreements and commercial contracts with defence and industry customers, effectively taking a slice of the action each time its systems are deployed – a model many market participants would recognise as a classic clip-the-ticket arrangement.
Its product suite includes both quadcopter and fixed-wing aerial targets engineered to mimic increasingly sophisticated drone threats. The systems allow defence forces to conduct realistic and repeatable training exercises without putting expensive intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets at risk.
As counter-drone technologies become a critical component of modern warfare, military operators require affordable and reliable target platforms to test and validate their systems under realistic conditions.
Importantly, once those capabilities are fielded, defence forces must continually refine tactics, techniques and procedures while ensuring personnel remain trained and mission-ready throughout the technology's operational life. That ongoing requirement creates a recurring need for realistic target drones and training solutions.
SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE MINING LTD (ASX: SUH)
Up 54% (2.4c – 3.7c)
Southern Hemisphere Mining surged onto our Runners podium on Wednesday, after unveiling a whopping 175m of visible copper sulphides in diamond drilling at its wholly owned Llahuin copper-gold-molybdenum project in Chile, offering an encouraging look below an already hefty, known mineralised zone.
The new diamond tail extended a previous reverse circulation hole that returned 81m at 0.53 per cent copper equivalent from 2m, including 48m at 0.62 per cent from 30m.
The diamond core extension revealed chalcopyrite-bearing veining and disseminated copper sulphides from 84m to the end-of-hole at 256m depth.
Southern Hemisphere says extensive visible copper sulphides encountered beneath its previously reported RC intercept at Llahuin confirm mineralisation remains open at depth, strengthening the project's potential to host a much larger copper system.
Management says the visual logging supports its view that Llahuin may host a large vertically extensive porphyry copper system and could help define higher-grade zones within the expanding Cerro-Ferro mineralised corridor. Core samples are now being cut and sent for analysis, with results expected in the next four to six weeks.
The intercept followed the company’s launch last month of a 1000-metre diamond drilling program across Ferro South, Ferro Central and Cerro, aimed at extending mineralisation at its 218Mt Llahuin resource, defined last July.
If the awaited assays match the visual sulphides – and the copper price can hold on to all-time highs - Southern Hemisphere may be uncovering a deeper porphyry prize at Llahuin, the mother of all discovery types and one that can balloon into a monster resource in no time.
WHITE CLIFF MINERALS LTD (ASX: WCN)
Up 40% (1.5c – 2.1c)
Rounding out our Runners is one of the best copper intercepts in living memory from a Canadian-focused copper explorer in White Cliff Minerals.
The company served up a top-shelf copper intercept at its Danvers prospect in Canada. Yet, somehow, the market's response amounted to little more than a 40 per cent rise in the company's share price.
Drilling within the company's broader Rae project in Nunavut produced an “exceptional grade” result from Danvers, where a hole intersected 19.81 metres grading a jaw-dropping 6.64 per cent copper from 152.4m.
The intercept included a series of eye-watering higher-grade zones, including 7.62m at 11.38 per cent copper, 3.05m at 17.68 per cent copper and 1.52m at a staggering 21.1 per cent copper.
The result drew inevitable comparisons with Australia's great DeGrussa deposit, with management saying the hit ranks among the strongest shallow copper intersections recorded globally in the past decade.
Importantly, the headline hit was not an isolated result. Additional drilling along the extensive Danvers strike continues to throw up impressive grade, with one hole nailing two mineralised zones grading 7.62m at 1.92 per cent copper and 3.05m at 2.07 per cent copper.
Collectively, this year's drilling has now confirmed copper mineralisation across a remarkable 2.6-kilometre strike length at Rae.
The latest assays alone added a further 807m of mineralised strike along the Teshierpi Fault Zone, highlighting the scale emerging within the system.
Perhaps most importantly, mineralisation remains open in multiple directions and is yet to be fully tested towards surface or at depth. With high grades, growing strike extent and plenty of room left to drill, White Cliff believes the Teshierpi Fault Zone may host a significant copper system.
The company also strengthened its financial position during the week, completing the sale of its Great Bear project for $1.2 million in cash while retaining a 9.99 per cent stake and ongoing exposure to any future uranium, copper, gold and silver discoveries. The proceeds will bolster an expected $6.5 million cash position following an underwritten conversion of options, backed by Alpine Capital and CPS Capital, with major shareholders John Hancock and Gavin Rezos providing cornerstone support.
With a discovery-grade intercept, a rapidly expanding mineralised footprint and a healthy treasury to fund the next phase of drilling, White Cliff is shaping as one of the more exciting copper stories on the ASX.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
By Andrew Todd
