The S&P/ASX 200 index is on course to record a strong gain on Tuesday. In afternoon trade the benchmark index is up 0.7% to 7,062.9 points.
Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are surging higher:
The Althea Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: AGH) share price is up 4% to 39 cents. Investors have been buying the cannabis company's shares in response to an update on its prescription growth in January. According to the release, Althea added 572 new patients in January. This means that a total of 4,590 Australian patients had been prescribed Althea's medicinal cannabis products by 459 Healthcare Professionals at the end of the month.
The Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price is up over 3% to $26.45 despite there being no news out of the machine learning company. However, a number of tech shares are pushing notably higher on Tuesday after a strong night of trade on the technology-focused Nasdaq index. So much so, in afternoon trade the S&P/ASX 200 Information Technology index is up an impressive 1.6%.
The Challenger Ltd (ASX: CGF) share price has surged a massive 11.5% higher to $9.89. Investors have been fighting to get hold of the annuities company's shares following the release of its half year results. Although Challenger reported a 4% decline in normalised net profit after tax to $191 million, it advised that it is on track to achieve the top end of its FY 2020 normalised net profit before tax guidance range of $500 million to $550 million.
The De Grey Mining Limited (ASX: DEG) share price has jumped almost 10% higher to 17 cents. This follows the release of another drilling update from its newly discovered Hemi Prospect. According to the release, further impressive thick and high grade gold was intersected during drilling activities. This could mean De Grey Mining is sitting on top of a potentially lucrative asset.
