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

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

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

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

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.