S&P/ASX 200 trims losses but still down 0.77% as unemployment rises in May

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) fell as much as 1.7% after May jobs data fell short of economist expectations by some margin, but has regained some of the losses to trade at 5946, down 0.77% at 2.04 pm. Employment in Australia fell by 227,700 in May with the unemployment rate rising to 7.1%, the highest level seen since Oct 2001. This compares to the market consensus of 79,000 job losses with unemployment at 6.9%. Banks and miners fall Losses have been widespread and across nearly every sector with the big four banks and major miners contributing most to broader declines. The fall in iron ore futures weighed on major miners with BHP Group (ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) both down around 1%. Top gainers on the ASX today include Engage:BDR Ltd (ASX:EN1) (+16.67%), Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd (ASX:INF) (+91.67%), Emmerson Resources Limited (ASX:ERM) (+9.52%) and Emperor Energy Ltd (ASX:EMP) (+8.00%). Proactive news headlines: Infinity Lithium doubles on key European partnership and investment deal Infinity Lithium Corporation Ltd (ASX:INF) (FRA:3PM) has further strengthened its European lithium supply strategy by executing binding agreements for a multi-staged funding and added services assistance package with European Union-based innovation initiative KIC InnoEnergy SE. Shares doubled to A$0.14 on the news which sees INF’s San José project in Spain become the first lithium project to secure European funding from EIT InnoEnergy, a recently launched platform created by the European Battery Alliance (EBA). archTIS secures first commercial Defence Industry contract with Northrop Grumman archTIS Ltd (ASX:AR9) has secured its first Defence Industry commercial contract with Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) to purchase an initial 50 licences of AR9’s Kojensi cloud platform to securely share information for its business development teams. This contract with the global US$53 billion Military System Integrator (MSI) has initial annual recurring revenue of $35,455 and demonstrates Kojensi’s diverse market sector application. TNT Mines investigates dual US listing following increased investor interest TNT Mines Ltd (ASX:TNT) is investigating the possibility of facilitating further trading liquidity and addressing offshore demand by seeking quotation to trade on the OTCQB Venture Market and/or OTCQX Best Market in North America. This move follows increasing levels of inbound international enquiry and investor interest from North America coinciding with the announcement on May 11, 2020, that TNT would acquire the high-grade East Canyon Uranium-Vanadium Project in Utah, USA. Kazia Therapeutics sees 2020 as crucial inflection point for oncology programs Kazia Therapeutics Ltd (ASX: KZA) is expecting multiple value-driving data read-outs from its clinical trials in 2020 and believes these may provide “high potential” for partnering with a big pharma. The company has six ongoing clinical trials across two of its assets – paxalisib (formerly GDC-0084) in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common and aggressive form of primary brain cancer in adults, and Cantrixil for ovarian cancer. Paxalisib is expected to transition to a pivotal study in the second half of 2020. eSense-Lab teams with Wise Winery to produce ethanol sanitisers infused with terpenes eSense-Lab Ltd (ASX:ESE) has entered into a joint venture with Sassey Pty Ltd (the owner of Wise Winery), a family-owned wine company based in Eagle Bay in the northern Margaret River Wine region. In response to a nationwide short supply of ethanol-based sanitisers, Wise recently started producing surface and hand sanitiser products using ethanol distilled from its own Chardonnay wine at its Eagle Bay distillery.