ASX Lunch Wrap: Stocks rally fizzles out; Star falls 23pc amid cash crisis

ASX dips after five-day rally, energy stocks lag
Global markets down as Fed signals inflation worries
Star Entertainment Group crashes amid cash burn crisis

After a five-day rally, the ASX finally hit a speed bump on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 index dropping by 0.6% this morning.

Meanwhile overnight in New York, Wall Street closed flat after the latest minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting confirmed that policymakers were getting a bit twitchy about inflation progress.

That wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for the US economy, and it added a bit of weight to the negative sentiment across global markets.

But back to the ASX, all 11 sectors opened lower today, and it was energy stocks leading the charge south after crude slipped 1%.

Energy, of course, has been particularly sensitive to the unpredictable oil market. Heavyweights Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) and Santos (ASX:STO) were down over 1%.

Local traders also weren’t exactly jumping for joy after the latest retail data hit the wires.

November’s retail sales rose 0.8%, which sounds decent on the surface, but it’s still a bit short of expectations, and only marginally better than October’s 0.5%.

In large caps news, there’s a bit of drama happening with Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR), which admitted it was in the middle of a liquidity crisis.

The casino giant stunned the market by revealing it only has $79 million left in cash.

That might sound like a lot, but the company’s been burning through cash at a rate of $107 million in just the last three months.

As a result, the stumbling casino player said it was struggling to meet the conditions of a $100 million loan facility it had recently lined up, and its share price crashed by 23% this morning.

And then there’s Avita Medical (ASX:AVH). The stock had already plunged 15% yesterday after the company said it would miss revenue forecasts. The sell-off continued today, with shares down another 12%.

Avita is a medical device company that focuses on developing Recell, a treatment for wounds and skin conditions.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for January 9 [intraday]:

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
EAT	Entertainment Rewards	0.003	50%	58	$2,617,572
MSI	Multistack Internat.	0.006	50%	100,000	$545,216
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.002	50%	2,900,000	$6,197,446
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.004	33%	1,744,152	$5,573,628
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.004	33%	29,038,563	$8,179,556
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.002	33%	105,256	$2,742,978
EVR	Ev Resources Ltd	0.003	25%	3,945,000	$3,625,007
FGR	First Graphene Ltd	0.040	25%	620,349	$21,439,664
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.005	25%	2,691,266	$6,678,125
PIM	Pinnacleminerals	0.060	20%	80,000	$2,273,166
MGU	Magnum Mining & Exp	0.012	20%	100,000	$8,093,614
BDG	Black Dragon Gold	0.056	19%	272,978	$14,239,405
AUZ	Australian Mines Ltd	0.013	18%	11,327,024	$15,383,633
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.013	18%	50,000	$3,359,456
NRX	Noronex Limited	0.013	18%	3,473,167	$5,496,561
AKA	Aureka Limited	0.170	17%	495,470	$14,853,060
RWL	Rubicon Water	0.340	17%	54,448	$69,801,578
FRX	Flexiroam Limited	0.007	17%	72,000	$4,713,863
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.014	17%	71,428	$6,624,544
SRN	Surefire Rescs NL	0.004	17%	898,610	$7,248,923

Trinex Minerals (ASX:TX3) said its recent soil geochemistry program at the Dudley lithium project in South Australia has revealed several promising drilling targets. The project contains thick, lithium-rich pegmatites stretching up to 6 kilometres, and these have never been drilled before. Results from over 1,100 soil samples show encouraging anomalies, which could point to a significant lithium discovery in the area.

First Graphene (ASX:FGR) has just filed a patent for a new process that makes graphene-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. The process improves the cost-effectiveness of metal oxide graphene, using base metals like cobalt, iron, and nickel, which were previously tough to work with. The company said this technology opens up big opportunities in the global electrocatalyst market, which is valued at over $1 billion.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for January 9 [intraday]:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.002	-33%	718	$7,548,781
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.002	-25%	1,816,858	$57,867,624
NTD	Ntaw Holdings Ltd	0.195	-25%	1,302,099	$43,603,979
SGR	The Star Ent Grp	0.148	-24%	80,459,242	$559,392,771
SBW	Shekel Brainweigh	0.028	-24%	450,986	$8,438,266
SP8	Streamplay Studio	0.008	-20%	130,002	$11,506,238
TEM	Tempest Minerals	0.004	-20%	10,801	$3,172,649
CDD	Cardno Limited	0.150	-19%	334,693	$7,226,223
GES	Genesis Resources	0.005	-17%	297,361	$4,697,048
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.005	-17%	1,771	$2,037,225
TKM	Trek Metals Ltd	0.021	-16%	130,155	$13,003,072
SCP	Scalare Partners	0.170	-15%	623	$6,976,560
ADN	Andromeda Metals Ltd	0.006	-14%	134,989	$24,001,094
CRR	Critical Resources	0.006	-14%	12,070,152	$17,023,742
EPM	Eclipse Metals	0.006	-14%	1,866,666	$16,014,989
IME	Imexhs Limited	0.325	-13%	1,312	$17,209,135
ATS	Australis Oil & Gas	0.007	-13%	450,000	$10,312,078
BCB	Bowen Coal Limited	0.007	-13%	1,171,778	$86,204,221
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.004	-13%	2,000,000	$12,000,000
WOA	Wide Open Agricultur	0.007	-13%	68,085	$4,269,493
NXS	Next Science Limited	0.105	-13%	45,605	$35,059,228
AVH	Avita Medical	3.090	-12%	1,232,064	$243,975,537