The Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO) share price ended FY 2023 significantly underperforming the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO).
Shares in the ASX 200 lithium stock finished the financial year down 4%. That compares to a 10% gain posted by the benchmark index.
As you can see from the price chart above, the financial year gone by can be effectively broken into two parts. One very good. The other decidedly not so.
In the first (almost) half of FY 2023, the Core Lithium share price soared 99%, closing on 14 November trading for $1.87.
In the second half of FY 2023, the ASX lithium stock plunged 52% (from 14 November). The stock closed on 30 June trading for 90 cents a share.
What moved the Core Lithium share price over the financial year?
A lot of the wild price action across the lithium miners over the past 12 months related to the initially soaring, then plummeting, then rebounding price of the battery-critical metal.
And the Core Lithium share price was no exception.
Fuelled at times by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) founder Elon Musk, forecast supply shortages and booming demand saw lithium prices hit all-time highs in November.
Soaring prices came as Core Lithium continued to progress towards first production at its flagship Finnis Lithium Project, located in the Northern Territory. And the miner got another big boost in August after reporting it had intersected high-grade lithium deposits at Finnis.
Then October saw the Core Lithium share price surge another 25%.
Investor sentiment was boosted after the company reported the Finnis mine was officially open, marking it the only current lithium mine outside of Western Australia.
October also saw Core report its first sale of spodumene DSO product.
What else happened over FY 2023?
Just as expectations of a supply deficit sent the lithium price soaring, growing forecasts of medium-term supply gluts from analysts, including those at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs, sent the lithium price plummeting from mid-November through to late April lows.
This pressured all ASX lithium stocks. And the Core Lithium share price was no exception, tumbling 20% in February alone.
Falling lithium prices saw Core downgraded by a number of brokers, including Goldman Sachs.
In February, the broker cut its price target to 90 cents per share.
While the Core Lithium share price traded below that level in March, shares rebounded from there to close at $1.17 on 12 May.
That was supported by strong performance in April after the company reported it was ready to export a maiden 3,500-tonne shipment of spodumene concentrate from Finnis to Yahua in China.
April also saw Core report a 62% increase in the mineral resource estimate at Finnis. The mineral resource estimate was increased to 30.6 million tonnes at 1.31% lithium oxide.
And the ASX 200 lithium stock managed to gain 7% in May. Part of the strength was driven by news that its first cargo of spodumene concentrate was heading out of the Darwin Port.
As for the first three trading days of FY 2024?
So far, so good.
As at market close yesterday, the Core Lithium share price was up 8% since the closing bell on 30 June.
