All those times we’ve had digs at our national capital? Maybe it’s just been light-hearted fun.

Whatever your thoughts, it’s tough to disagree that it has come a long way since purely being set up as a compromise site to stop feuds between Sydney and Melbourne.

A survey by the Australia Institute has found that 65 per cent of Australians think Canberra should stay the capital while just 17 per cent think it should be elsewhere.

And 54 per cent of Australians think our politicians don’t spend enough time there.

To markets and after a strong start initially, the ASX is now sitting flat. Healthcare has gained but energy and tech have both dropped.

Taking the headlines this morning was Nuix (ASX:NXL) which fell after downgrading its guidance for the second time in six weeks. But there were some stocks that had better news this morning.

 

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Monday, May 31:

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

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The top stock was hydrogen aspirant Prominence Energy (ASX:PRM). The company completed a $3.2 million capital raising which paves the way for the company’s entry into hydrogen.

Specifically it will fund the acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in Patriot Hydrogen, a private company building a biomass to hydrogen plant at Port Anthony in Victoria.

PNG-focused gold explorer Frontier Resources (ASX:FNT) rose with exploration results – including one intercept of 1m @ 148g/t gold.

Tech investment company 8I Holdings (ASX:8IH) rose after submitting its full year accounts which were due today. That’s two months after the end of its financial year which is 1 April to 31 March, because it’s based in Singapore.

 

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Monday, May 31:

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

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Beyond Nuix, one other laggard was gold explorer Gascoyne Resources (ASX:GCY) which fell off the back of its mineral resource and ore reserve statements for 2021.

While the company claimed it had a stable base, it decreased resources at its Dalgaranga project, a move the company blamed on depletion and limited drilling which had occurred there over the last five years. It also revealed it was facing an extended delay for assay results with 7,500 samples currently sitting at its geologists’ laboratory.