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ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s getting on the job hunt today?
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Australia got a key update on the economic impact of COVID-19 this morning, with the release of April jobs data.
All eyes were on April after March figures were little-changed (mainly because the numbers were gathered in the first two weeks of the month).
The post-corona result? Pretty ugly. Total job losses came in at 594,300, slightly above the 575,000 fall expected. And almost three million Aussies either lost their jobs or had their hours reduced.
(For perspective, there were 5,900 jobs added in March, and monthly results show the economy usually adds jobs, rather than loses them.)
Australia’s unemployment rate is now 6.2 per cent. That was below forecasts of a sharp rise to 8.2 per cent, but the result was masked by an equally sharp decline in the participation rate (defined as the sum of people working and looking for work, as a percentage of the population).
In other words, almost 500,000 people left the labour force entirely, which saw the participation rate fall to 63.5 per cent — the lowest level in 15 years.
For currency traders, the jobs figure missed expectations, as the Aussie dollar declined against all the major trading pairs.
And local stocks continued to drift lower, after getting off to a slow start this morning following a 1.75 per cent fall on the S&P500.
The ASX200 was down one per cent heading into midday trade at 5,367, while the Small Ords Index was 0.6 per cent lower at 2,413.
WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday May 14:
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| Code | Company | Price | % Change | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CCE | Carnegie Clean | 0.002 | 100.00% | $22.2M |
| SSG | Shaver Shop | 0.595 | 38.37% | $54.4M |
| VRC | Volt Resources | 0.011 | 37.50% | $13.9M |
| CZL | Consolidated Zinc | 0.004 | 33.33% | $5.2M |
| DDD | 3D Resources Ltd | 0.003 | 25.00% | $6.3M |
| EAX | Energy Action | 0.13 | 23.81% | $2.7M |
| RDS | Redstone Resources | 0.006 | 20.00% | $2.4M |
| AMD | Arrow Minerals | 0.006 | 20.00% | $5.8M |
| PGY | Pilot Energy | 0.019 | 18.75% | $1.5M |
| GML | Gateway Mining Ltd | 0.013 | 18.18% | $17.4M |
| CYG | Coventry Resources | 0.02 | 17.65% | $48.5M |
| TON | Triton Minerals | 0.055 | 17.02% | $63.5M |
| NOX | Noxopharm | 0.22 | 18.92% | $32.7M |
| EMT | Emetals | 0.015 | 15.38% | $5.7M |
| FFL | Founders First | 0.265 | 15.22% | $32.8M |
| ANA | Ansila Energy NL | 0.008 | 14.29% | $4.1M |
| BNR | Bulletin Resources Ltd | 0.059 | 13.46% | $10.8M |
| MRG | Murray River Organics | 0.018 | 12.50% | $39.7M |
| RMP | Red Emperor Resources | 0.009 | 12.50% | $4.7M |
| FFG | Fatfish Internet Group Ltd | 0.009 | 12.50% | $7.3M |
Among the winners this morning was retail platform Shaver Shop (ASX:SSG), after it advised the market that COVID-19 has actually been pretty good for business.
The seller of personal grooming products flagged a 32 per cent increase in sales, with a 50 per cent decline in foot traffic at its store network offset by a 387 per cent surge in online sales between April 1 and May 10.
LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday May 14:
Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.
| Code | Company | Price | % Change | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANL | Amani Gold | 0.001 | -50.00% | $6.8M |
| ID8 | Identitii | 0.11 | -40.86% | $8.1M |
| PCL | Pancontinental Oil&Gas | 0.001 | -33.33% | $8.1M |
| LRS | Latin Resources Ltd | 0.003 | -25.00% | $1.1M |
| CLZ | Classic Minerals Ltd | 0.002 | -25.00% | $8.2M |
| MAY | Melbana Energy | 0.004 | -20.00% | $9.3M |
| DLC | Delecta Ltd | 0.004 | -20.00% | $2.8M |
| FPL | Fremont Petroleum | 0.004 | -20.00% | $8.3M |
| GED | Golden Deeps Ltd | 0.007 | -16.67% | $2.0M |
| POW | Protean Energy | 0.005 | -16.67% | $1.6M |
| CE1 | Calima Energy | 0.005 | -16.67% | $10.8M |
| EXL | Elixinol Global | 0.233 | -13.89% | $44.4M |
| NWR | Norwest Energy NL | 0.003 | -14.29% | $14.2M |
| CHK | Cohiba Minerals Ltd | 0.006 | -14.29% | $4.7M |
| BIQ | BuildingIQ Inc | 0.006 | -14.29% | $2.6M |
| SCL | Schrole | 0.015 | -14.29% | $15.2M |
| DW8 | Digital Wine Ventures | 0.006 | -14.29% | $8.1M |
| VR1 | Vection Technologies | 0.021 | -12.50% | $19.7M |
| CLA | Celsius Resources | 0.008 | -11.11% | $6.8M |
| NVO | Nvoi | 0.008 | -11.11% | $13.5M |
 
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