In an amazing piece of good news, the hunt for missing four-year-old Cleo Smith is over today after police found her alive in a locked home in Carnarvon.

It’s been more than two weeks since she disappeared from the Blowholes camp site and police said she has now been reunited with her family.

A 36-year-old Carnarvon man has been taken into custody and is being questioned by detectives.

A neighbour of the house where Cleo was found said the man who lived there was “quiet” and said he noticed the man buying nappies from a local supermarket recently.

“We didn’t click who … he was buying them for,” he said.

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is up 102.80 points or 1.40% at midday today to 7,427.10.

Oil prices are mixed as traders await the weekly US supply reports and also the meeting of the OPEC+ group of oil producers to be held on Thursday.

The Brent crude price rose to US$84.72 a barrel and the US Nymex crude price lost 0.2% to US$83.91 a barrel.

Base metal prices fell by between 0.5-2.2% and the gold futures price fell by 0.4% to U$1,789.40 an ounce with spot gold trading near US$1,787 an ounce.

Iron ore slid by US$6.85 or 6.6% to US$96.45 a tonne, but BHP (ASX:BHP) FMG (ASX:FMG) and RIO (ASX:RIO) were all up today, 1.04%, 2.37%, and 0.12% respectively.

According to Morningstar with Dow Jones, investors await the US Federal Reserve’s rates decision and whether a period of rising prices could last longer and weigh more on the economy than central bank officials have suggested.

Major central banks elsewhere in the world, concerned about stubbornly high inflation, have been moving forward plans to raise rates.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia signalled it would raise interest rates sooner than expected.

The Bank of England is expected to increase rates when it meets on Thursday, while Canada’s central bank suggested last week that it could do so as soon as April.
“Virtually every policy taken has been inflationary in nature,” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Exencial Wealth Advisors.

“The market will disagree, but I think the biggest risk is that the Fed doesn’t move fast enough” in raising rates, he said.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for November 3 [intraday]:

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Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.002 100.0% $3,822,163
MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.089 48.3% $47,530,700
AM7 Arcadia Minerals 0.26 30.0% $6,840,000
PAR Paradigm Bio. 2.6 26.2% $468,092,006
FBR FBR Ltd 0.05 25.0% $88,263,364
ARO Astro Resources NL 0.005 25.0% $15,056,772
NTL New Talisman Gold 0.0025 25.0% $6,414,451
PTR Petratherm Ltd 0.058 20.8% $9,548,055
AZL Arizona Lithium Ltd 0.1375 19.6% $200,323,526
CAE Cannindah Resources 0.38 18.8% $166,042,234
GGX Gas2Grid Limited 0.0035 16.7% $12,138,306
GTG Genetic Technologies 0.007 16.7% $55,356,541
KEY KEY Petroleum 0.0035 16.7% $5,903,784
RLT Renergen Limited 3.26 16.0% $64,414,906
PVE Po Valley Energy Ltd 0.03 15.4% $26,172,729
GBR Greatbould Resources 0.155 14.8% $48,226,834
AGN Argenica 0.435 14.5% $17,945,119
1VG Victory Goldfields 0.2 14.3% $6,730,176
TEM Tempest Minerals 0.024 14.3% $8,355,919
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The biggest small cap winner today was Wooboard (ASX:WOO) up 100% on no news.

It was followed by Memphasys (ASX:MEM) which jumped 48.3% after completing verification and validation assessments for its Felix sperm separation device for early access markets with low regulatory requirements.

Next up was Arcadia Minerals (ASX:AM7) up 30% off the back off its 50%-owned subsidiary in Namibia acquiring three licences containing an inferred JORC Mineral Resource.

Up 26.2% was Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:PAR) after announcing US FDA clearance of its IND (investigational new drug) application for a Phase 3 trial for PPS/Zilosu – an injectable drug that treats pain associated with knee osteoarthritis

And Fastbrick Robotics (ASX:FBR) jumped 25% off its Mexican deal to build 2,000 homes with its construction robot.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Code Name Price % Change Market Cap
ALT Analytica Limited 0.001 -50.0% $9,227,602
PCL Pancontinental Energ 0.001 -33.3% $10,551,334
BKY Berkeley Energia Ltd 0.23 -28.1% $82,874,208
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.0025 -16.7% $44,707,721
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.0025 -16.7% $17,792,734
PFE Panteraminerals 0.245 -15.5% $11,165,000
AEV Avenira Limited 0.025 -13.8% $25,022,732
DDD 3D Resources Limited 0.0035 -12.5% $15,521,488
MEB Medibio Limited 0.007 -12.5% $14,360,492
KOR Korab Resources 0.046 -11.5% $19,086,600
EAX Energy Action Ltd 0.27 -11.5% $8,231,523
ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.0205 -10.9% $28,637,887
E25 Element 25 Ltd 1.37 -10.5% $227,649,265
PO3 Purifloh Ltd 1.385 -10.4% $48,703,804
EVE EVE Investments Ltd 0.0045 -10.0% $19,215,709
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The biggest loser today was Analytica (ASX:ALT) which dropped 50%, followed by Pancontinental Energy (ASX:PCL) down 33.3% – both on no news.

Then there’s Uranium player Berkeley Energia (ASX:BKY) which fell 28.1% after receiving a claim from Singapore Mining Acquisition Co Pte Ltd (a subsidiary of the Oman Investment Authority) alleging that the principle amount of US$65 million of the convertible note entered into in 2017 is immediately payable by the company.

It’s alleged that the investment agreement and convertible note have been frustrated, repudiated and/or an event of default has occurred – Berkeley disputes the claim and is currently seeking legal advice.

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