S&P/ASX 200 tumbles 1.9% ending six straight weeks of gains

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJOASX) closed 113 points or 1.9% weaker at 5,848 after regaining a portion of its 3.4% loss from the first hour of trade. It was a second successive day of losses after a seven-session winning streak and brought an end to the run of six consecutive weekly improvements. The sell-off was sparked by growing investor concern for the potential of a second wave of COVID-19 infections as lockdown restrictions ease. However, US futures which pointed to a rebound on Wall Street cushioned the fall. Big decliners The banking, energy, retail and travel stocks which benefitted most from the recent recovery rally were among the largest decliners today. Defensive oriented sectors such as staples and health performed better with some gold miners improving. Top gainers on the ASX today include Nelson Resources Ltd (ASX:NES) (+12.20%), Domacom Australia Ltd (ASX:DCL) (7.84%), Argonaut Resources NL (ASX:ARE) (+14.29%) and De Grey Mining Limited (ASX:DEG) (+6.35%). Proactive news headlines: Bellevue Gold remains Macquarie’s preferred exploration and development story in the ASX gold sector Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX:BGL) (OTCMKTS:BELGF) recently hit 17 metres at 4.2 g/t gold in its first regional hole drilled on the 20-kilometre Bellevue Trend in Western Australia. This hole at Government Well prospect is about 7 kilometres from the existing 2.2-million-ounce at 11.3 g/t inferred resource at Bellevue Gold Project. Macquarie Research has retained its Outperform recommendation for Bellevue and has increased its target price by 33% to $1.20 per share (current price: 96 cents). Bryah Resources raising up to $1.55 million ahead of follow-up drilling Bryah Resources Ltd's (ASX:BYH) placement, which will raise up to $1.55 million, has been strongly supported by new investors and existing shareholders. The company has received binding commitments for the placement of 31 million shares at an issue price of 5 cents per share. Proceeds will be used for exploration on the company’s high-priority gold and copper prospects in the Bryah Basin in Western Australia. archTIS completes $2.24 million capital raising to drive Kojensi Platform growth archTIS Ltd (ASX:AR9) has raised $590,750 from a share purchase plan (SPP), which follows a $1.65 million placement completed in May with funds to continue driving pipeline growth and execution of sales of the Kojensi Platform. Around 10.7 million new shares are expected to be issued at a price of 5.5 cents per share by Monday, June 15, 2020. Core Lithium closes share purchase plan early after attracting strong support Core Lithium Ltd (ASX:CXO) has closed its $1.5 million share purchase plan (SPP) early after receiving strong support with applications in excess of $2.1 million. This follows a successful placement last month to institutional and sophisticated investors to raise a total of $5.5 million before costs and the recently secured first European offtake MoU for the Finniss Lithium Project in the Northern Territory. Yandal Resources sets sights on raising $3.3 million to accelerate gold exploration Yandal Resources Ltd (ASX:YRL) aims to raise to around $3.342 million in a pro-rata non-renounceable rights offer with funds to accelerate exploration of its highly prospective gold projects in Western Australia. The company will issue up to 13.369 million shares at 25 cents per share in the offer on the basis of one new share for every five shares. Piedmont Lithium raises US$13 million after completing US public offering Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLL)( NASDAQ:PLL) has completed its US public offering of 2.065 million American Depositary Shares (ADS), each representing 100 of its ordinary shares, for gross proceeds of US$13 million (around AU$18.6 million). This includes the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, at an issue price of US$6.30 per ADS. Lithium Australia has ‘novelty and inventiveness’ of LieNA® extraction technology confirmed Lithium Australia NL (ASX:LIT) is progressing closer to a patent grant for its LieNA® extraction technology for recovering lithium from fine and variable-grade spodumene. On April 6, 2020, the company was granted Patent Number 2017306576 with priority details 2016903041, effective from August 2, 2016, and has now received positive feedback on the patentability of the technology's second-generation. Perseus Mining added to S&P/ASX 200 Index in rebalance Perseus Mining Limited (ASX:PRU) (TSE:PRU) (OTCMKTS:PMNXF) is a major beneficiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices rebalance in the S&P/ASX indices being added to the S&P/ASX 200 Index. This change will be effective at the open of trading on June 22, 2020. In the past 12 months the market cap of the West African gold miner, developer and explorer has increased to approximately A$1.448 billion. Kin Mining raising $9.9 million to underpin next major exploration phase at Cardinia Gold Project Kin Mining Ltd (ASX:KIN) is undertaking a non-renounceable pro-rata entitlement offer to raise up to $9.9 million with funds to underpin the next major phase of exploration at Cardinia Gold Project (CGP) in Western Australia. Kin has received confirmation from its two largest shareholders that they intend to subscribe for their full entitlements in the entitlement offer. Collectively, these shareholders hold around 39% of Kin’s shares on issue.