There were plenty of big movers among ASX shares this week. Some higher. Some lower.
Here's why these five stocks really defined the week.
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ASX shares that leapt onto the list on Monday
Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) locked in its place on this list on Monday.
Shares in the sports betting company took off right from the opening bell and closed the day up a remarkable 21.6%.
Investors were scrambling to get their hands on the ASX share after it reported receiving an unsolicited non-binding indicative offer from United States rival DraftKings to acquire its US business. DraftKings proposed to pay US$195 million in cash.
Pointsbet gave DraftKings until after market close on 27 June to complete its due diligence and finalise its proposal. Stay tuned.
Also making our five defining ASX shares of the week list on Monday was lithium developer Lake Resources N.L. (ASX: LKE). Though for decidedly different reasons.
The Lake Resources share price crashed 20.0% on Monday after releasing an operational update for its Kachi brine project, located in Argentina.
As you'd expect from the heavy selling, the update fell far short of market expectations.
The biggest disappointment looks to be a delay in battery-grade lithium carbonate production at the project. This was pushed back to 2027, later than expected.
Lake Resources also is facing some hefty costs to reach phase one of its production plans. Capital costs are estimated in a range of US$1.1 billion to US$1.5 billion. Phase one is targeting 25,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of battery-grade lithium carbonate production.
Other big movers during the week
The third ASX share to make the list this week is tech share Xero Limited (ASX: XRO).
On Tuesday, the cloud accounting platform provider notched its fifth consecutive day of gains. The ASX share closed the day up 1.4% at $119.88 per share.
That saw the Xero share price up 70% in 2023 and marked a fresh 52-week high.
Also making the top five defining ASX shares list on Tuesday was Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL).
Shares in the media company closed the day up 20.1% after reporting that rival ARN Media (ASX: A1N) – which owns KISS FM – acquired a 14.8% interest in Southern Cross Media for the tidy sum of $38.3 million.
ARN said it sees Southern Cross Media as "representing attractive value for ARN Media's shareholders".
Which brings us to the fifth ASX share that defined the week, gold miner Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR).
Gold Road made the list on Thursday when the $1.6 billion gold stock suffered an 8.3% fall in its share price.
Investors were hitting the sell button following an update on the miner's expectations for its Gruyere Gold Mine.
Gold Road reported that a combination of inclement weather along with issues with blasting resources and production drills had negatively impacted ore and waste mining at the mine. This saw the ASX share downgrade its 2023 annual production guidance.
