Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Righto, you lot – it’s Friday morning, and the past couple of days have been not-very-great for the ASX.

That makes today your last shot for the week to try turning the ship around in a bid to offset those losses, even though they’re evidently not your fault entirely.

As an investor, it’s your job to get out there and get the job done – and to help get you motivated and into a winning frame of mind, our journos have been scouring the landscape far and/or wide to get you the latest information you need to get a head start.

First off we’ve got Josh Chiat’s notes on what China’s been doing to lithium prices, and – because it’s Friday and he’s weirdly attracted to various forms of hydrocarbons, Bevis Yeo has brought us his latest dip into the world of oily, greasy gas.

John Lehmann has the good oil on a variety of tasty, tasty plonk – just the thing for your end-of-the-week drinks after work. Seriously, you’re losing money by not buying these legendary reds.

But before you race off, do be sure to catch up on the essential data below, because if you don’t read it I will have been horrendously late for a dinner date last night for no reason at all, and I would be sad.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,889.02 (-0.15%)

Silver: US$22.68 (+1.32%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,310/t (+2.56%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,234/t (+0.82%)

Oil (WTI): US$80.06 (+0.86%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.76 (+0.37%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$105.64/t (+0.79%)

AUD/USD: 0.6403 (-0.5%)

Bitcoin: US$25,499 (-11.02%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Turns out I might not be the only one asking questions about power bills and record profits yesterday.

Origin Energy (#ASX:$ORG) released its yearly report this morning, and it’s a corker, showing that the company has posted a bit of profit surge this year.https://t.co/pLJsJIFGto

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) August 17, 2023

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.005	67%	1,928,170	$8,990,911
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0015	50%	1,633,858	$15,642,574
CLE	Cyclone Metals	0.0015	50%	263,501	$10,264,505
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0015	50%	510,318	$10,716,208
C1X	Cosmosexploration	0.525	28%	1,782,797	$18,234,750
RBX	Resource B	0.2	25%	507,126	$13,229,518
ELE	Elmore Ltd	0.005	25%	6,568,593	$5,597,535
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.0025	25%	1,721,586	$15,569,766
MXC	Mgc Pharmaceuticals	0.0025	25%	1,482,674	$7,784,719
OCN	Oceanalithiumlimited	0.3	22%	588,120	$13,003,743
CRS	Caprice Resources	0.061	22%	823,345	$5,837,847
ASQ	Australian Silica	0.065	20%	223,023	$15,209,660
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.003	20%	1,890,187	$7,559,413
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.003	20%	800,000	$3,629,983
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.006	20%	3,174,501	$3,067,972
DYM	Dynamicmetalslimited	0.26	18%	116,630	$7,700,000
LLI	Loyal Lithium Ltd	0.79	17%	6,249,307	$46,568,251
CTP	Central Petroleum	0.062	17%	503,118	$38,658,479
CWX	Carawine Resources	0.14	17%	1,907	$23,618,096
MPP	Metro Perf.Glass Ltd	0.14	17%	1,299	$22,245,370
M2M	Mtmalcolmminesnl	0.029	16%	50,000	$1,994,188
MDX	Mindax Limited	0.059	16%	605,850	$104,323,498
CUF	Cufe Ltd	0.016	14%	258,952	$13,945,573
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.004	14%	2,997,784	$2,798,148
INP	Incentiapay Ltd	0.008	14%	276,924	$8,855,445

Yesterday’s Small Caps standouts were:

Cosmos Exploration (ASX:C1X) found itself in first place yesterday, rising more than 31% despite no news since Tuesday when it announced that rock chip sampling at its Leatherback prospect at Byro East in WA showed “significant rare earths potential”, boasting one sample at 1.1% TREYO and 21% NdP.

Second-place getter was Caprice Resources (ASX:CRS) up thanks to rock chip news after sampling at the company’s new Colosseum prospect at Mukinbudin delineated a +500m target with a peak 5,068ppm (0.5%) TREO (21.3% HREO) value.

That news was delivered this morning, pushing Caprice up 24%.

And in third place was Oceana Lithium (ASX:OCN), after it capitalised on the market’s obsession with all things James Bay by climbing more than 20% on news that fieldwork is now underway at the company’s Monaro project, thanks to local officials easing bushfire restrictions over the region.

Yesterday’s pre-lunch frontrunners Australian Silica Quartz (ASX:ASQ) held on to end the day 20.3% higher, and Wednesday’s winner Loyal Lithium (ASX:LLI) stacked on another 17% today as well.

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.005	-38%	1,367,540	$8,126,997
DXN	DXN Limited	0.001	-33%	994,500	$2,581,972
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.001	-33%	2,608,356	$9,221,169
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.0035	-30%	6,206,573	$26,511,136
NXD	Nexted Group Limited	0.855	-29%	5,368,185	$265,652,128
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.0015	-25%	13,085	$6,590,311
CXO	Core Lithium	0.41	-25%	63,607,444	$1,012,891,653
EMP	Emperor Energy Ltd	0.012	-20%	556,922	$4,032,937
ADS	Adslot Ltd.	0.004	-20%	1,214,288	$16,333,088
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-20%	106,504	$3,336,824
THR	Thor Energy PLC	0.004	-20%	1,840,000	$7,296,457
WCN	White Cliff Min Ltd	0.008	-20%	10,836,898	$12,570,186
KRR	King River Resources	0.009	-18%	4,500	$17,088,774
KNG	Kingsland Minerals	0.2	-17%	1,507,431	$10,732,752
NAE	New Age Exploration	0.005	-17%	2,000,818	$8,615,393
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.032	-16%	62,526	$22,105,600
BVR	Bellavistaresources	0.135	-16%	154,741	$6,075,602
RRR	Revolverresources	0.15	-14%	65,283	$20,361,093
AHN	Athena Resources	0.006	-14%	32,500	$7,493,273
CHK	Cohiba Min Ltd	0.003	-14%	3,509,075	$7,746,355
CPT	Cipherpoint Limited	0.006	-14%	99,084	$8,114,692
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.012	-14%	23,567	$9,008,701
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.006	-14%	247,508	$12,257,755
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.006	-14%	72,857	$14,415,849
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.006	-14%	1,514,123	$3,986,403

TRADING HALTS

Resonance Health (ASX:RHT) – Execution of a material contract for the provision of services in connection with a clinical trial to be conducted by a major pharmaceutical company.

Western Gold Resources (ASX:WGR) – Material acquisition and capital raising.

Noble Helium (ASX:NHE) – Capital raising.

Cygnus Metals (ASX:CY5) – Capital raising.

Native Mineral Resources (ASX:NMR) – Capital raising.

Global Oil & Gas (ASX:GLV) – Finalisation of a contract with Perupetro.