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ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Benchmark down, MinRes climbs on $1.1bn deal
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- Wall Street underwhelmed again overnight
- So it’s probably no surprise to anyone the ASX 200 is also down today
- Meanwhile MinRes has jumped into bed with Gina for $1.1 billion
The ASX was down by 0.52% around stomach-grumbling time on Thursday, as a mix of company meetings and earnings updates kept the index in check.
In the utilities sector, AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) was down over 6% on no specific news, but it appears that Barrenjoey has issued a downgrade on the stock.
Fellow utilities stock Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) rose 0.5% after reporting an increase in liquid natural gas (LNG) revenue for the September quarter, despite a dip in overall production.
Consumer stocks were also gaining this morning, with JB HiFi (ASX:JBH) leading the charge at 6% after reporting solid sales growth, particularly in New Zealand.
In mining, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) jumped 15% after announcing a $1.1 billion deal to sell its oil and gas assets to Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, putting it on track to restore its debt-heavy balance sheet. The company also said it plans to release findings regarding an investigation into boss Chris Ellison’s tax matters and related party transactions by Monday.
The biggest large caps losers this morning were Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) and Imugene (ASX:IMU) – both down around 7%.
Imugene reported its quarterly update today. The market likely reacted negatively after the company reported a substantial cash outflow of $24 million during the quarter.
Meanwhile, in economics data, Australian retail sales only inched up 0.1% in September, falling short of expectations for a 0.3% increase, following a stronger 0.7% rise in August.
Overall sales for the third quarter rose 0.5% to $104.6 billion, breaking a trend of losses, but spending per person is still down 1.9% compared to last year.
Not the ASX
Overnight, Wall Street fell as the earnings season went into full swing.
Reddit reported strong Q3 sales that exceeded forecasts, leading to a 42% surge in its shares.
Microsoft also had a good day, with shares up 0.75% after reporting strong Q3 earnings, thanks to a 22% growth in its Azure cloud business.
However, investors sold off Meta shares despite the company projecting stronger holiday sales. Although Meta reported a 19% year-over-year sales increase and expects Q4 revenue between $45 billion and $48 billion, this fell short of analysts’ expectations of $46 billion.
Across the Atlantic, the Eurozone economy grew by 0.4% in the last quarter, surpassing expectations of 0.2%. However, it remains sluggish, with industry in recession and household spending barely moving.
In commodities, gold hit a record high of US$2,789.90 an ounce, breaking the previous record set on Tuesday, while oil prices rebounded by 3% after a few days of losses.
Over to you, Gregor, for some additional commentary…
In Japan this morning, the Nikkei was down 0.43% through the morning session, most likely because Japanese scientists are in the middle of a horrifying experiment, in a bid to find out what happens when they feed neurotoxins to pufferfish – aka, Fugu.
It turns out that the pufferfish that are A) considered a delicacy in Japan, and B) completely lethal if you eat the wrong bit, aren’t actually born toxic – they acquire the deadly tetrodotoxin from their own diet, which is rich in nutrients and deadly germs.
So… the scientists are trying to discover what happens if they take non-toxic Fugu, and feed them the neurotoxins, and I have no idea why… and I don’t think they’re quite sure, either.
But while they’re hard at work all but ensuring that millions of people will die when the experiment goes horribly wrong, here’s a look at the local Small Caps winners.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 31 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRX | Prodigy Gold NL | 0.0025 | 67% | 129,694,646 | $3,498,684 |
| FFF | Forbidden Foods | 0.013 | 63% | 3,133,684 | $4,577,788 |
| AYM | Australia United Min | 0.003 | 50% | 176,557 | $3,685,155 |
| CDE | Codeifai Limited | 0.0015 | 50% | 500,000 | $2,641,295 |
| RBR | RBR Group Ltd | 0.0015 | 50% | 1,750,000 | $1,634,405 |
| SI6 | SI6 Metals Limited | 0.0015 | 50% | 3,900,000 | $2,767,292 |
| SIT | Site Group Int Ltd | 0.003 | 50% | 7,925,000 | $6,304,980 |
| TLG | Talga Group Ltd | 0.59 | 46% | 6,288,960 | $173,744,838 |
| W2V | Way2Vatltd | 0.008 | 33% | 1,055,555 | $5,442,300 |
| LKY | Locksley Resources | 0.029 | 26% | 42,501,220 | $3,373,333 |
| TKM | Trek Metals Ltd | 0.035 | 25% | 2,029,013 | $14,388,440 |
| LNU | Linius Tech Limited | 0.0025 | 25% | 500,000 | $11,730,481 |
| LPD | Lepidico Ltd | 0.0025 | 25% | 2,250,000 | $17,178,250 |
| RIL | Redivium Limited | 0.005 | 25% | 1,282,690 | $10,987,419 |
| VML | Vital Metals Limited | 0.0025 | 25% | 405,436 | $11,790,134 |
| NAG | Nagambie Resources | 0.018 | 20% | 1,897,804 | $11,949,535 |
| QXR | Qx Resources Limited | 0.006 | 20% | 2,661,900 | $5,550,389 |
| SRN | Surefire Rescs NL | 0.006 | 20% | 166,000 | $9,931,539 |
| KNI | Kunikolimited | 0.215 | 19% | 351,348 | $15,618,468 |
| TER | Terracom Ltd | 0.2025 | 19% | 3,568,587 | $136,164,260 |
| CKA | Cokal Ltd | 0.083 | 19% | 1,242,751 | $75,526,429 |
| POL | Polymetals Resources | 0.79 | 17% | 914,415 | $131,463,449 |
| AKM | Aspire Mining Ltd | 0.31 | 17% | 19,660 | $134,523,801 |
| PPY | Papyrus Australia | 0.016 | 14% | 252,088 | $6,897,696 |
| T88 | Taiton Resources | 0.165 | 14% | 5,000 | $7,920,559 |
Talga Group (ASX:TLG), a vertically integrated battery anode and graphene additive company, is on the up today after the successful conclusion of the environmental process for the Nunasvaara South natural graphite mine, part of its Vittangi Anode Project in northern Sweden.
The Swedish Supreme Court has dismissed all requests for leave to appeal the Environmental and Natura 2000 permit, meaning the mine environmental permit is now in force.
Forbidden Foods (ASX:FFF) has announced the launch of a new Oat Milk Goodness (‘OMG’) product into 130 Ampol Foodary stores, as well as via 100%-owned ecommerce channels. The new stock-keeping (SKU) unit is a coffee flavoured variety and an extension of OMG’s protein range. Investors are liking the taste of a rising FFF share price this morning.
Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) has been surging today, too. As Jess Cummins reports:
LKY has used the past 12 months looking for REEs at its Mojave project near Las Vegas which abuts America’s largest and only operating rare earths mine Mountain Pass. The latter delivers about 15% of the world’s supply.
Mojave plays host to the historical Desert Antimony mine containing quartz-stibnite veins that produced about 100-1000 tonnes with antimony (Sb) grades ranging from 15-20%.
Recent rock chip sampling across the area has thrown up antimony grades as high as 46% this morning, with eight delivering values over 17% and over 18 returning grades over 1.4% antimony.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for October 31 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OAR | OAR Resources Ltd | 0.001 | -50% | 250,000 | $6,601,669 |
| BCC | Beam Communications | 0.095 | -37% | 979,229 | $12,963,288 |
| EEL | Enrg Elements Ltd | 0.002 | -33% | 75,468 | $3,135,048 |
| IVX | Invion Ltd | 0.002 | -33% | 1,390,911 | $20,449,775 |
| MDR | Medadvisor Limited | 0.24 | -31% | 14,696,059 | $192,957,673 |
| M2R | Miramar | 0.0055 | -31% | 8,687,408 | $3,174,586 |
| PPG | Pro-Pac Packaging | 0.019 | -30% | 1,701,354 | $4,905,568 |
| ATH | Alterity Therap Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | 4,968,484 | $21,281,344 |
| BNL | Blue Star Helium Ltd | 0.003 | -25% | 601,725 | $10,779,541 |
| IPB | IPB Petroleum Ltd | 0.006 | -25% | 7,000 | $5,651,224 |
| LNR | Lanthanein Resources | 0.003 | -25% | 1,643,890 | $9,774,545 |
| PAB | Patrys Limited | 0.003 | -25% | 938,855 | $8,229,789 |
| EVR | Ev Resources Ltd | 0.004 | -20% | 84,521 | $6,981,357 |
| TAS | Tasman Resources Ltd | 0.004 | -20% | 909,334 | $4,026,248 |
| LVH | Livehire Limited | 0.028 | -18% | 106,566 | $12,974,895 |
| AJX | Alexium Int Group | 0.01 | -17% | 4,573,997 | $18,886,545 |
| CT1 | Constellation Tech | 0.0025 | -17% | 3,333,333 | $4,424,201 |
| DVL | Dorsavi Ltd | 0.01 | -17% | 2,028,000 | $8,037,311 |
| NGY | Nuenergy Gas Ltd | 0.016 | -16% | 489,451 | $33,833,403 |
| 3PL | 3P Learning Ltd | 0.9 | -15% | 1,566 | $287,916,381 |
| CVB | Curvebeam Ai Limited | 0.094 | -15% | 368,229 | $33,714,320 |
| ALR | Altairminerals | 0.003 | -14% | 91,198 | $15,038,021 |
| MPR | Mpower Group Limited | 0.012 | -14% | 510,003 | $4,811,846 |
| RGL | Riversgold | 0.003 | -14% | 2,118,314 | $5,696,119 |
| SFG | Seafarms Group Ltd | 0.003 | -14% | 110,909 | $16,928,097 |
ICYMI – AM EDITION
ICYMI for Lunch Wrap October 31
Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) has received the second instalment of US$25m of the US$90m settlement that the Tanzanian Government had agreed to pay in settlement over the unlawful expropriation of Ntaka Hill base metals project.
Following receipt of funds, Ntaka UK Limited (NUKL) has repaid an additional US$24.5m on a US$38m loan obligation to the company. This follows the initial repayment of US$6.6m made in July.
IDA is now in a strong financial position to accelerate its planned exploration activities in South Australia focusing on several high priority gold targets, with reverse circulation and diamond drilling currently underway.
Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:PAR) has submitted the updated protocol for the Phase 3 clinical trial of its injectable pentosan polysulfate sodium (iPPS) for knee osteoarthritis (OA).
It expects the review to be completed within the 30-day review period, which start on October 29, allowing it to start pre-screening and enrolment for the PARA_OA_012 trial shortly thereafter.
Preparations are already underway at trial sites across Australia and the US, with initial activities to be launched at up to 10 sites in Australia, targeting first patient enrolment by Q1 CY2025.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Indiana Resources and Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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