Key takeaways:

• Battery metals, gold, and iron ore lead the market lower, at the same time tech shares are crunched to end the week

With growing fears a higher-than-expected interest rate peak could see the Fed Reserve tip the US economy into a recession, shares end the week on the back foot.

Which shares excelled?

One of the week biggest talking points, Arafura Rare Earths (ASX: ARU) tops this week best performers. The rare earths explorer has attracted the attention of none other than Gina Rinehart, which sparked a frenzy of buying activity this week. 

Although Rinehart interest in the company was already well-known, Arafura published a substantial shareholder notice indicating that Rinehart Hancock Prospecting has a major stake in the business. 

Following its involvement in a recent capital raise, Hancock Prospecting owns more than 166 million shares in Arafura. This gives it a stake of around 8.37%, suggesting it is a high-conviction play for Australia richest person.

On a completely separate note, G8 Education (ASX: GEM) has made ground this week after reporting a strong earnings update. With occupancy levels and staffing costs improving, the company announced earnings increased more than 40% during the five-month period ending November. 

In total, its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) were $50 million for the period. The strong result follows what was a tough start to the year for G8 Education, with inclement weather and COVID both causing havoc disrupting its workforce management and occupancy levels.

Healius (ASX: HLS), an operator of pathology laboratories, diagnostic imaging centres, and day hospitals, has put in a promising performance this week. The stock rebounded from what was a two-and-a-half year low. 

The company is currently in the midst of change, announcing a new CEO, and also entering a binding agreement to sell Montserrat Day Hospitals to Nexus Hospitals for an enterprise value of up to $138.6 million. While news of both events had little impact on the stock when first announced last Friday, it appears investors have taken time to digest the news, now giving the thumbs up.

Health supplements company Blackmores (ASX: BKL) was the top performing stock across the ASX 200 on Thursday, despite no price-sensitive news. The stock was trading at its highest level since mid-August when it reported disappointing earnings. Rounding things out, a number of tech stocks led the ASX higher through the first half of the week, before selling pressure surfaced on Friday. This includes Data#3 (ASX: DTL), Brainchip (ASX: BRN), Xero (ASX: XRO), and Megaport (ASX: MP1).

Which shares dragged on the market?

Lithium and battery metals have been smashed this week, including Liontown Resources (ASX: LTR), Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR), Core Lithium (ASX: CXO), Pilbara Minerals (ASX: PLS), Lake Resources (ASX: LKE), and Ioneer (ASX: INR).

The catalyst for the sell-off was the latest spodumene concentrate sales for Pilbara via the digital BMX auction. The lithium producer sold two cargoes of product totalling 10,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) for an average sale price of US$7,552 per dmt. 

When converted into the equivalent SC6.0 benchmark price that includes freight to China, the result of US$8,299/dmt represented a decrease in lithium prices sold at auction. At the last auction held in mid-November, Pilbara received a successful auction bid of US$8,575/dmt, with the latest result 3.2% off that record high. 

At the same time, investment bank Citi also had an influence over proceedings this week. The bank now expects lithium carbonate prices to retrace by 20% from what it anticipates will be a higher peak of US$60,000 per tonne in 2023.

Elsewhere, iron ore stocks have recorded a pull-back after a strong fortnight. Names like Mineral Resources (ASX: MIN), Grange Resources (ASX: GRR), and Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) were all sold off sharply as profit taking set in. Ongoing signs of weakness in the Chinese property market may have played a role, with property prices slumping for the 14th month in a row as demand and funding dry up.The story was not too dissimilar for the gold sector, which recorded its first retreat in several weeks. Some of the laggards from this corner of the market included Ramelius Resources (ASX: RMS), Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR), and Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR). Although gold prices spiked well above US$1,800 per ounce at one stage this week, the precious metal quickly fell below that key benchmark as traders weighed up the Fed Reserve new forecast that sees rates higher for longer.The federal government gas price cap hit a number of stocks this week, but the one that has felt the heat more than the rest is Origin Energy (ASX: ORG). Aside from the prospect that the price caps could have a direct impact on its sales revenue to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, some analysts believe such regulatory intervention could turn away the company takeover suitor. 

Last month the company received an $18.4 billion bid from EIG Group and Brookfield, although it remains to be seen whether the deal will go ahead as they complete their due diligence.

Last but not least, shareholders in Nanosonics (ASX: NAN), Perenti (ASX: PRN), Vulcan Steel (ASX: VSL), and Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) will all be nursing a headache this week after these stocks led the market lower.

We'll be back next week with another Weekly ASX Trading Wrap Up - until then, have a great week!