ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who's being a Christmas grinch today?

The Roman Catholic church may be the last place you’d expect to find a Christmas grinch.

However, reports out of Italy indicate Bishop Antonio Staglianò has no time for Santa Claus.

At an event last week, Staglianò broke the news to a group of children that Santa is indeed fake. And in addition, his famous red suit is actually just a marketing scheme for Coca Cola.

Parents were reportedly not amused at Staglianò’s preference to issue an early dose of cold hard reality for the youngsters in attendance.

On markets, the ASX traded flat into midday on Tuesday, as local stocks trod water following falls on Wall Street overnight.

Across sectors, there were no standout winners, with few obvious catalysts in Asian trade as markets gear up for the US Federal Reserve’s policy announcement which is scheduled for Wednesday night.

Crypto markets are under pressure, with Bitcoin falling below US$46,000 amid a ~10% decline across the sector over the last 24 hours.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for December 14 [intraday]:

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Market Cap
QGL	Quantum Graphite	0.16	213.7%	$14,943,000
PCL	Pancontinental Energ	0.002	33.3%	$10,551,334
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.002	33.3%	$5,733,244
VRT	Virtus Health Ltd	6.83	31.1%	$445,647,749
TMS	Tennant Minerals Ltd	0.03	20.0%	$9,134,407
XAM	Xanadu Mines Ltd	0.031	19.2%	$32,734,982
3DP	Pointerra Limited	0.41	18.8%	$233,843,140
BEX	Bikeexchange Ltd	0.165	13.8%	$19,964,128
PNV	Polynovo Limited	1.545	13.6%	$899,487,740
ICT	Icollege Limited	0.13	13.0%	$124,516,563
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.009	12.5%	$46,497,445
OIL	Optiscan Imaging	0.195	11.4%	$108,182,480
KWR	Kingwest Resources	0.2	11.1%	$43,489,895
XTC	Xantippe Res Ltd	0.005	11.1%	$22,930,675

There was a moonshot in resources, as Quantum Graphite (ASX:QGL) surged by more than 200%.

The gains accompanied QGL’s reinstatement to the ASX boards late yesterday. The company says it’s the only producer of coarse flake graphite in Australia, where it operates the historical Uley mine in SA.

Elsewhere, fertility company Virtus Health (ASX:VRT) posted solid gains after advising that it’s in the sights of one of Australia’s largest private equity players, BGH Capital.

BGH, which already owns a 9.99% stake in Virtus, lobbed a takeover bid this morning where it valued the company at $7.10 a share.

Among stock with news, another morning winner was the Bevan Slattery-backed geospatial imaging company Pointerra (ASX:3DP), which flagged a number of new contract wins in the US market led by a deal with US energy utility Entergy that’s expected to generate revenues of $3.29m to $5.56m.

Medical device company PolyNovo (ASX:PNV) also rose in the wake of some good news out of the US, where it’s beefing up its sales team and reported monthly sales in November of US$1.97m, just off July’s record high of US$1.97m.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for December 14 [intraday]:

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Market Cap
AJM	Altura Mining Ltd	0.017	-73.1%	$324,282,090
CDD	Cardno Limited	0.215	-53.4%	$180,369,260
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.002	-33.3%	$28,033,601
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.0015	-25.0%	$13,176,506
MLS	Metals Australia	0.0015	-25.0%	$10,477,115
EN1	Engage:Bdr Limited	0.002	-20.0%	$7,756,590
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0025	-16.7%	$44,707,721
MSB	Mesoblast Limited	1.435	-15.6%	$1,102,783,319
NIS	Nickelsearch	0.15	-14.3%	$10,253,449
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.58	-13.4%	$23,336,119
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.007	-12.5%	$19,441,842
OEX	Oilex Ltd	0.0035	-12.5%	$22,761,445
TRN	Torrens Mining	0.175	-12.5%	$13,932,988
SIX	Sprintex Ltd	0.06	-12.0%	$15,937,907
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.008	-11.0%	$47,720,045
TSC	Twenty Seven Co. Ltd	0.004	-11.0%	$11,973,663
XST	Xstate Resources	0.004	-11.0%	$14,468,317
SBR	Sabre Resources	0.0045	-10.0%	$8,446,568
RMY	RMA Global	0.19	-10.0%	$100,665,524
SMI	Santana Minerals Ltd	0.29	-9.0%	$42,443,932
GBE	Globe Metals &Mining	0.1	-9.0%	$51,251,461
HVY	Heavymineralslimited	0.155	-9.0%	$6,233,489

After completing a capital raising, Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) also rejoined the ASX boards this morning and fell by more than 70% from its last traded price.