It has been a fantastic start to the week for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). In late morning trade the benchmark index is up 1.7% to 6,823.5 points.
Four ASX shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are storming higher:
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)
The Afterpay share price is up over 3% to $119.06. Investors have been buying Afterpay and other tech shares on Monday following a strong night of trade on the tech-heavy Nasdaq index on Friday. The buying has been so strong that the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) is up a sizeable 1.9% at the time of writing.
Alkane Resources Limited (ASX: ALK)
The Alkane Resources share price has climbed 3% to 70 cents. This morning the gold-focused mineral exploration company revealed positive drilling results from its Northern Molong Porphyry Project. Management commented: "These results give us added confidence to pursue our drilling campaign as we seek to identify what could potentially be a series of substantial deposits across our Northern Molong Porphory Project."
ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ)
The ALS share price is up over 3% to $9.79 after announcing a new acquisition. This morning the testing services company announced that it has acquired Investiga for an undisclosed fee. Investiga is a pharmaceutical testing business with operations in Brazil and the east coast of the United States. It currently has 360 employees and generated A$20 million of revenue in FY 2020.
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)
The Woodside share price has risen 2.5% to $26.10. There appear to be a couple of catalysts for this solid gain. One is another rise in oil prices on Friday night and the other is a broker note out of Ord Minnett. In respect to the latter, this morning the broker upgraded Woodside's shares to a buy rating with a $29.05 price target.
