ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Crypto dips on a cryptic tweet, ASX looks pretty sweet

Local stocks have opened the week in positive territory, following a bullish lead from US markets on Friday night.

Steady gains for the big banks and miners underpinned sentiment, with no major catalysts in early Asian trade.

That lack of volatility played second-fiddle to some more action on crypto markets, where Elon Musk made a cryptic two-step in his delicate dance with Bitcoin evangelicals.

After Tesla’s financials revealed US$1.5bn of Bitcoin holdings in January, Musk hinted that he might just have sold all of it — a move which sent BTC tumbling towards $US45k with sharp falls across most of the major altcoins.

Elsewhere on traditional markets, gold continues to push further above US$1,800 an ounce while oil remains well supported, with benchmark Brent crude climbing back towards the US$70/barrel mark — a level it last reached on March 15.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks to 11:30am on Monday, May 17

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
4DS	4Ds Memory Limited	0.16	14	3,558,558	$184,932,782
ADO	Anteotech Ltd	0.345	15	5,379,472	$576,088,558
AFW	Applyflow Limited	0.007	17	3,043,577	$10,871,122
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.007	17	18,390,870	$9,992,863
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.007	17	293,585	$4,263,956
AQS	Aquis Ent Ltd	0.195	26	61,257	$5,536,472
ARD	Argent Minerals	0.052	21	5,865,432	$37,677,525
BPH	BPH Energy Ltd	0.09	23	10,046,605	$48,539,115
CAP	Carpentaria Resource	0.14	20	25,459,983	$44,268,174
CLZ	Classic Minerals Ltd	0.0015	50	91,780,326	$19,846,632
CR9	Corellares	0.064	14	4,351,104	$17,695,993
GES	Genesis Resources	0.013	44	1,339,062	$7,045,572
GNM	Great Northern Minerals	0.0135	69	172,836,943	$9,672,408
GRV	Greenvale Mining Ltd	0.295	18	5,325,674	$98,236,207
IMU	Imugene Limited	0.35	13	23,895,612	$1,483,737,724
JNO	Juno	0.2	18	2,323,663	$23,061,860
MDX	Mindax Limited	0.084	127	62,375,147	$36,529,315
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.016	14	2,603,865	$32,903,263
NCR	Nucoal Resources Ltd	0.011	22	5,175,944	$6,917,511
PGM	Platina Resources	0.067	14	1,230,642	$24,759,143
ROG	Red Sky Energy	0.0095	19	29,021,411	$37,051,378
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0035	17	414,999	$27,508,601

Leading the pack again was junior iron ore play Mindax Ltd (ASX:MDX), which still had some proverbial embers burning following its insane re-listing.

After a two-year hiatus the stock returned to the ASX boards, just after its China-owned JV partner got FIRB approval to invest in MDX’s magnetite iron ore project in WA’s Yilgarn province.

Shares in MDX doubled at the opening bell this morning, after its stock initially went haywire on Friday with an intraday gain of as much as 6,000%.

Among stocks with news, gains were led by Great Northern Minerals (ASX:GNM) which announced some high-grade gold hits from a reverse circulation grilling program at its Camel Creek project in Queensland.

More broadly, the morning winners were again largely skewed to resources and energy with the exception of Anteotech (ASX:ADO) which announced it has signed a manufacturing contract for its COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test (ART)1 with Spain-based company Operon.

LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks to 11:30am on Monday, May 17

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

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.001	-33	31,895,532	$16,180,495
AO1	Assetowl Limited	0.007	-13	250,200	$4,260,041
BTR	Brightstar Resources	0.027	-13	1,041,240	$13,632,274
EAX	Energy Action Ltd	0.36	-12	21,768	$11,065,326
GTE	Great Western Exp.	0.125	-17	121,540	$20,429,709
IKW	Ikwezi Mining Ltd	0.25	-14	4,000	$11,788,492
INF	Infinity Lithium	0.062	-67	11,831,428	$76,504,366
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.003	-25	24,000	$7,871,713
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.007	-13	4,706,523	$7,905,973
KNO	Knosys Limited	0.12	-14	40,000	$23,836,981
LAW	Lawfinance Ltd	0.013	-13	2,000,000	$17,553,451
MLS	Metals Australia	0.0015	-25	2,719,805	$8,454,376
MMI	Metro Mining Ltd	0.043	-12	6,737,011	$68,116,146
MRG	Murray River Grp	0.2	-11	7,879	$9,925,907
PHL	Propell Holdings Ltd	0.12	-14	199,824	$11,419,502
PVL	Powerhouse Ven Ltd	0.18	-14	348,507	$19,282,571
SBW	Shekel Brainweigh	0.11	-12	132,900	$19,146,875
T3D	333D Limited	0.002	-33	1,662,189	$4,131,466
UUV	UUV Aquabotix Ltd	0.002	-20	6,052,168	$5,970,937
VIC	Victory Mines Ltd	0.0025	-17	1,833,766	$16,704,758
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.003	-14	350,000	$13,377,570
ZMI	Zinc of Ireland NL	0.053	-13	14,250	$7,499,484

Leading the laggards was Infinity Lithium (ASX:INF), which announced that the investigation permit application at its San José lithium project in Spain has been cancelled.

INF said it strongly disputes the decision and based on legal advice, has launched an appeal to have it overturned.