The ASX200 is flatter than another Stockhead dad joke at lunch on Thursday.
A shame to be sure, because the benchmark did open with some brief flair after overnight global equity markets faded late, but almost universally closed higher as US Treasury yields fell on bets the US is done with inflation.
At midday on Thursday Nov. 30, the S&P/ASX 200 index was down by six points or -0.08% to 7029.
Amusingly, tech stocks thought it was still Wednesday when the trading got underway in Sydney, spiking early with some of the exuberance which was on show after the October CPI read dropped at 11.30am yesterday.
The XTK quickly fell into line but one never knows with this lot…
In New York, Wall Street gave up early gains to end mixed, amid growing expectations the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the new year.
US Treasury yields backtracked on the sudden vacuum of investor fears around inflation, as Wall Street stops asking when the Federal Reserve will next lift rates, and instead start cutting interest rates.
That said, all three indices decelerated into the afternoon as traders took the cream off recent profits following more untimely Fedspeak looking to dispel too much confidence that the Fed’s tightening cycle is already done.
We’ve got flat energy stocks on the ASX and flat oil prices from Texas to Turkmenistan ahead of the ultra high-stakes OPEC+ meet, as fears revolve around the prospect of deeper cuts and higher prices.
No-one cares, but we should probably also mention that The Global Climate Conference, COP 28, kicks off today in Dubai.
Chinese PMIs also drop today and my goodness, there’ll be some heads rolling if these don’t offer some clear signs of life after the previous batch arrived DOA last month.
Some quite decent headline ASX annual meetings today for fans of both finance and classic Aussie ’80s television drama like Sons and Daughters…
Probably the most revealing will be Dr Leslie Chong and her incredibly busy team walking their oftentimes bewildered shareholders through the latest complex results at the gene-therapy outfit Imugene (ASX:IMU).
Elsewhere we have Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) and Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA) talking nice at their respective AGMs as well.
We’re also watching on this AM in Sydney, that things are finally happening over at Origin Energy (ASX:ORG), where another sorely put upon board has at last reached deep into the company sperm bank, scooped up some remaining testosterone and rejected the revised takeover bid from the out-of-town takeover Cabal led by Canadian giant Brookfield.
In a note to shareholders, but perhaps written for angriest shareholder AustralianSuper, the board said the offer was ‘incomplete and too complex’, not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders (or AustralianSuper) and have meekly suggested that investors vote no to the $18.7bn offer when the opportunity arises on Monday next.
“The Revised Proposal is incomplete and highly conditional, including requiring finalisation of funding arrangements, updates to regulatory approvals, rulings from the Australian Taxation Office, and entry into revised legal documentation. In addition, pursuit of the Revised Proposal would result in an extended timeline,” the board wrote this morning.
“If the current scheme is not approved by the requisite majorities at the scheme meeting on 4 December 2023, board and management will continue to execute on Origin’s strategy and ambition to lead the energy transition in Australia. Consistent with its duties, the board will remain open to strategic options that enhance shareholder value.”
As mentioned, IT stocks took the briefest of early leads before returning to the comfort of the pack.
Dropping some upwardly revised forward guidance early in the session, much of that uplift came from buying into the financial platform Iress (ASX:IRE), which was up about +13% last I checked.
The $1bn plus IRE really only tweaked its underlying earnings by about $5m – from between $118m-$122m offered at the company’s FY results to $123m-$128m… but frankly, it’s been that long since anyone – let alone a SaaS financial/IT stock – offered both forward guidance AND an upward revision.
OFC, the financial software maker also said it’s killing a long slated transformation and accelerating into some nice dollars.
ASX SECTORS ON THURSDAY
US PAST and FUTURES
In New York, stocks traded in a fairly narrow range as Q3 GDP data added a little extra encouragement for the resilient US economy.
All three major indices trimmed gains in a late arvo sell off with the big growth names like Microsoft and Apple dragging the S&P 500 into the red.
In regular hours trade on Wednesday, the Dow slipped home (up +0.04%), while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed lower by -0.1% and -0.16%, respectively.
On the plus side of the ledger, all of the big US indexes look set to finish November with gains.
Amazon says its snazzy new AI chip is four times faster than the last one, while offering twice more energy efficiency.
And finally, General Motors found lots of old-new friends when it declared a record monstrous US$10bn share buyback as well as a ridiculous +33% additional dividend.
US stock futures rose on Thursday in Sydney ahead of the last trading session of November in New York:
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 30 November [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPM | Cooper Metals | 0.43 | 65% | 14,050,325 | $16,183,869 |
| DMG | Dragon Mountain Gold | 0.015 | 50% | 133,334 | $3,946,717 |
| CRB | Carbine Resources | 0.006 | 50% | 1,000,000 | $2,206,951 |
| KEY | KEY Petroleum | 0.0015 | 50% | 310,000 | $1,967,928 |
| IEC | Intra Energy Corp | 0.004 | 33% | 2,497,250 | $4,982,345 |
| AUK | Aumake Limited | 0.005 | 25% | 1,126,447 | $7,436,294 |
| BUY | Bounty Oil & Gas NL | 0.01 | 25% | 2,222,449 | $10,964,008 |
| CHK | Cohiba Min Ltd | 0.0025 | 25% | 400,000 | $4,426,488 |
| ADG | Adelong Gold Limited | 0.006 | 20% | 500,000 | $2,981,611 |
| MKL | Mighty Kingdom Ltd | 0.02 | 18% | 787,000 | $7,146,283 |
| BFC | Beston Global Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 357,333 | $11,982,281 |
| IBG | Ironbark Zinc Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 2,508,522 | $8,843,236 |
| MOM | Moab Minerals Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 141,150 | $4,271,781 |
| PAB | Patrys Limited | 0.007 | 17% | 3,013,244 | $12,344,684 |
| PUA | Peak Minerals Ltd | 0.0035 | 17% | 282,334 | $3,124,130 |
| WOA | Wide Open Agriculture | 0.18 | 16% | 140,584 | $27,072,356 |
| RTG | RTG Mining Inc. | 0.029 | 16% | 25,000 | $27,136,988 |
| ATV | Activeport Group | 0.115 | 15% | 20,872 | $31,714,787 |
| LDR | Lode Resources | 0.115 | 15% | 64,248 | $10,678,415 |
| VBC | Verbrec Limited | 0.085 | 15% | 12,786 | $18,744,175 |
| IBX | Imagion Biosys Ltd | 0.39 | 15% | 20,989 | $11,099,827 |
| IPG | IPD Group | 4.78 | 14% | 544,553 | $363,117,606 |
| M4M | Macro Metals Limited | 0.004 | 14% | 1,750,000 | $8,634,772 |
| NTM | Nt Minerals Limited | 0.008 | 14% | 2,454 | $6,019,320 |
| PXX | Polarx Limited | 0.008 | 14% | 3,389 | $10,917,317 |
With its stock rising proudly in AM trade, much like the fortunate user of LTR Pharma’s miraculous nasal spray, Cooper Metals (ASX:CPM) has found more copper at its Brumby Ridge Prospect at the Mt Isa East Cu-Au Project.
The latest assays look convincing to me – and the compamny says they “confirm bonanza copper grades” at Brumby Ridge, so must be true.
Dragon Mountain Gold (ASX:DMG) is holding its AGM.
The voting’s been done and there was almost wholesale backing of the various resolutions including a 99.97% vote in favour of changing the company name.
Shares are up 50% so it must be a right cracker of a name – ‘cos I thought Dragon Mountain Gold was pretty bloody good already.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 30 November [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMD | Arrow Minerals | 0.001 | -33% | 23,800,000 | $4,535,648 |
| NPMDA | Newpeak Metals | 0.069 | -31% | 25,296 | $9,995,579 |
| BP8 | BPH Global Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 500,000 | $3,231,126 |
| 4DS | 4DS Memory Limited | 0.08 | -24% | 33,468,529 | $183,601,416 |
| SRH | Saferoads Holdings | 0.09 | -18% | 20,000 | $4,120,796 |
| CLU | Cluey Ltd | 0.075 | -17% | 67,868 | $18,145,221 |
| WIN | Widgie Nickellimited | 0.115 | -15% | 678,917 | $40,222,582 |
| AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 238,053 | $1,018,444 |
| AVE | Avecho Biotech Ltd | 0.003 | -14% | 120,000 | $11,092,540 |
| EEL | Enrg Elements Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 2,502,659 | $7,069,755 |
| EMN | Euro Manganese | 0.12 | -14% | 2,545,668 | $34,414,167 |
| LNR | Lanthanein Resources | 0.006 | -14% | 15,240 | $7,851,029 |
| RLC | Reedy Lagoon Corp. | 0.006 | -14% | 168,000 | $4,316,785 |
| VRC | Volt Resources Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 728,915 | $28,910,747 |
| ENR | Encounter Resources | 0.29 | -13% | 1,814,790 | $134,754,012 |
| BGE | Bridge SaaS | 0.026 | -13% | 10,000 | $1,573,362 |
| CTT | Cettire | 3.015 | -13% | 4,067,328 | $1,315,271,859 |
| ATH | Alterity Therapeutics | 0.0035 | -13% | 829,802 | $11,209,442 |
| OAR | OAR Resources Ltd | 0.0035 | -13% | 601,000 | $10,506,597 |
| SGC | Sacgasco Ltd | 0.007 | -13% | 410,000 | $6,188,662 |
| RRR | Revolver Resources | 0.105 | -13% | 21,328 | $31,154,912 |
| LCL | LCL Resources Ltd | 0.021 | -13% | 2,530,303 | $19,063,307 |
| PTR | Petratherm Ltd | 0.043 | -12% | 201,000 | $11,012,806 |
| CMP | Compumedics Limited | 0.155 | -11% | 10,470 | $31,003,516 |
| KP2 | Kore Potash PLC | 0.008 | -11% | 1,600,000 | $6,021,518 |