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S&P/ASX 200 slips 0.75% as brent crude settles above US$50 a barrel for the first time since early March

Published: 14:07 11 Dec 2020 AEDT

MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd - S&P/ASX 200

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) slipped 0.75% to 6633 by 2 pm following a weak lead from Wall Street with mixed trading for major US indices overnight.

CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) is weighing on the index with the stock falling 3.1% after terminating its COVID-19 vaccine trial with the University of Queensland due to the vaccine causing false positive HIV test results.

Iron ore miners Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) are higher after the bulk metal price rose to a more than seven-year high of US$156 a tonne.

IGO acquires world’s biggest hard-rock lithium mine

Independence Group (ASX:IGO) shares surged 25% after completing its institutional entitlement offer, raising about $446 million as part of its acquisition of a 49% stake in Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia.

Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia controls Greenbushes — the world’s biggest hard-rock lithium mine, about 250 kilometres from Perth.

IGO has committed to invest $1.4 billion which provides Tianqi with much-needed cash to make loan repayments.

China’s Tianqi Lithium (SHE:002466) will retain a 51% ownership of its Australian unit.

Top gainers

Today’s top gainers on the ASX include MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (ASX:MXC) (+16.67%), Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX:CPH) (+19.05%), Alta Zinc Ltd (ASX:AZI) (+20.00%), Calima Energy Ltd (ASX:CE1) (+28.57%), Lotus Resources Ltd (ASX:LOT) (+17.00%), Carnavale Resources Limited (ASX:CAV) (+12.50%) and Cipherpoint Ltd (ASX:CPT) (+13.21%).

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