ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Vaccine funded by singer of Jolene, markets sanguine

Local markets remain buoyant, with the ASX200 on track to make it three wins in three days this week.

It’s even better news at the small end of town, where the ASX Emerging Companies index is looking to book its 11th winning session in the past 12 days — during which time it’s climbed by over 11 per cent.

Global markets were flat overnight, but despite the ongoing rise in international COVID-19 cases stocks remain buffered by November tailwinds — Joe Biden’s presidential win and two positive vaccine results.

Research towards the second of those, from US pharma giant Moderna, was partially funded by a $1m donation from pop legend Dolly Parton.

In what may be Parton’s biggest hit since Jolene, Moderna’s trial results showed the vaccine had a 94.5 per cent effective protection rate, and the company is applying to manufacture 1 billion units by the end of 2021.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday November 18:

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

Junior resources explorers led the way in morning trade, and leading the pack was Africa-focused gold explorer Cassius Mining (ASX:CMD) which rose to 4.2c — a gain of 250 per cent.

CMD had no market-moving news of note, but the stock went into a trading halt at 10:54am AEDT pending a “further announcement”.

Also climbing strongly was Equatorial Resources (ASX:EQX) on the back of some staff movements.

EQX announced that current director (and former Wallabies player) John Welborn has been promoted to managing director and CEO.

And Ireland-based medtech stock Oneview Healthcare (ASX:ONE) got on the winner’s list after announcing commitments for an $8.75m capital raise to accelerate the development of its cloud-based patient management software.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday November 18:

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