The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price is on fire today. Pilbara shares are up 9.9% so far this Thursday and are currently trading at $1.69 a share after closing at $1.54 yesterday and opening at $1.58 this morning.
$1.69 a share is a new 52-week, and an all-time high share price for Pilbara. The company is now up an incredible 93.1% year to date in 2021 so far, and up an even more astonishing 425% over the past 12 months.
Pilbara shares are also topping the ASX boards in terms of trading volume today. Out of all the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) shares on the markets today, Pilbara shares have swapped hands the most frequently so far, with more than 20 million shares traded already (and it's only lunchtime).
So what on earth is going on with this lithium producer this Thursday?
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the Pilbara Minerals share price on fire today?
Well, it's hard to say. There has been no real news or announcements out of the company today. Well, save for some routine paperwork that was released yesterday afternoon after market close. This informed investors that Pilbara will be delivering a quarterly business trading update on 29 July. But that's probably not what's getting investors hot under the collar today.
One possible source of optimism here might be the update from fellow ASX lithium producer Galaxy Resources Limited (ASX: GXY) that we saw delivered this morning. As my Fool colleague James covered earlier today, Galaxy reported record quarterly production for the second quarter.
Management also stated that the company "continues to experience strong demand" for lithium products amid rising global electric vehicle sales and strong demand from the Chinese market in particular.
Galaxy shares are also up big today, rising 10% so far to $4.40 a share, as well as hitting a new all-time high of its own.
Galaxy and Pilbara are essentially competing in the same market with the same commodity. So what is good for the goose is generally good for the gander here. As such, it's not too surprising that goodwill from Galaxy's results would spill over into the Pilbara Minerals share price.
Where Pilbara shares currently stand, the company has a market capitalisation of $4.44 billion.
