In afternoon trade, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on course to record a small gain. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.3% to 8,255.9 points.

Four ASX shares that are rising more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are climbing:

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

The Core Lithium share price is up 3% to 7.2 cents. Investors have been buying this lithium miner's shares after it announced the termination of its legacy offtake agreement with Yahua. As part of the settlement, the company has agreed to make a US$2 million payment in cash. Core Lithium's CEO, Paul Brown, said: "The settlement of this legacy offtake agreement provides greater scope and opportunity for securing strategic funding sources to support a future restart of the Finniss Lithium Operation, which remains subject to Board approval."

Goodman Group (ASX: GMG)

The Goodman share price is up over 2% to $32.05. This appears to have been driven by a broker note out of UBS this morning. According to the note, the broker has upgraded the industrial property company's shares to a buy rating with a $36.00 price target. This has been driven by optimism over the outlook of the data centre market and its 5GW pipeline. UBS also sees potential for even more upside if data centre demand from artificial intelligence and cloud computing underpins even stronger growth than Goodman's planned capacity can cater to.

GQG Partners Inc (ASX: GQG)

The GQG Partners share price is up almost 6% to $2.39. Investors have been buying this investment company's shares following the release of broker notes out of Macquarie and UBS. In respect to the former, its analysts have retained their outperform rating and $2.90 price target. Whereas UBS has reaffirmed its buy rating with an increased price target of $2.75. Both brokers have responded positively to GQG Partners' recent update. Macquarie adds: "At <9x NTM P/E with a >10% yield, valuation remains attractive."

Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)

The Macquarie Group share price is up almost 3% to $208.86. This may have been driven by a broker note out of Morgans. In response to its full year results, its analysts have upgraded the investment bank's shares to an add rating with a $223.89 price target. Elsewhere, the team at Citi has taken its sell rating off the company's shares and upgraded them to neutral with an improved price target of $200.00.