It's proving to be a shaky start to the trading week for the S&P/ASX 300 Index (ASX: XKO) so far this Monday. At the time of writing, the ASX 300 has slipped by 0.09% after initially starting out in the green this morning.
But this miserly start to the trading week has not held back at least some ASX 300 shares. So let's look at two that have just clocked new 52-week highs this Monday.
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2 ASX shares hitting new 52-week highs today
Vicinity Centres (ASX: VCX)
ASX real estate investment trust (REIT) Vicinity is our first ASX 300 share to check out today. Vicinity Centres units have had a rather mild day of gains so far. The REIT is currently up by 0.75% at $2.01 a unit. But this comes after Vicinity hit $2.03 a unit earlier this morning. That happens to be the shopping centre operator's new 52-week high.
This latest rise means Vicinity is now up a healthy 13.84% year to date in 2022 thus far. It also puts the REIT up an even more impressive 37% or so over the past 12 months.
However, we don't know what's behind this new 52-week high today. There hasn't been any news or announcement out from the REIT since 12 July. So perhaps investors are just in the mood to add a retail-based REIT to their portfolios.
Austal Ltd (ASX: ASB)
Shipbuilder Austal is our next ASX 300 share to have a look at today. So far this Monday, the Austal share price has risen a robust 1.19% to $2.56 a share. But that comes after the shipbuilder rocketed as high as $2.60 a share this morning, which is the company's new 52-week high.
What a start to the 2023 financial year it has been for Austal too. Since 30 June, the company has risen an impressive 42.2%. Austal shares are also up almost 30% year to date in 2022 thus far, and up almost 18% over the past 12 months.
So do we have a smoking gun for Austral's new 52-week high? Yes.
The company released a statement to the ASX this morning. This announced that Austal has been awarded a new "fixed-price incentive contract option from the United States Navy for the construction of two Navajo-class Towing, Salvage, and Rescue Ships (T-ATS 13 and 14)".
This is the second US Navy contract Austal has won in as many years, having already accepted a contract to build two of these same ships in October 2021.
Investors have clearly given Austal the tick of approval for this news, considering the new 52-week high today.
