It’s hump day. Markets are all over the shop. Inflation is surging.

Stockhead’s editorial policy places a strict cap on Bill Lawry quotes, but I digress; the tension, the drama, the buzz, the crowd…Merv, Merv, Merv! (Ed note: Merv Hughes reference not relevant).

Admittedly we’re not at the MCG, although the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on Sunday provided a similar level of chaotic entertainment.

The chief protagonist was none other than tennis star Nick Kyrgios, who wasn’t in a giving mood at the celebrity basketball match to raise money for the Starlight Foundation.

One play that got the punters talking involved NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet, who collected an entry pass in the post and attempted to give Kyrgios some Uncle Drew treatment with a casual turnaround jumper.

But the 26 year-old Canberran was having none of Dommy’s mid-range game, dispatching his shot towards the sidelines with a crude rejection.

He also blocked other shot attempts by Maria Thattil, Australia’s Miss Universe contestant, and finished up with 16 points…

Back to markets, where Australia’s inflation hawks were waiting with baseball bats to dispatch the ‘team transitory’ ball into the stands upon the release of Q1 GDP figures this morning.

They got their wish, with an annual headline print of 5.1% — the highest level in more than 20 years.

Trimmed mean inflation — the RBA’s preferred measure — also beat expectations with a quarterly gain of 1.4% and an annual gain of 3.7% (forecast 3.4%).

The general consensus among analysts in the immediate wake of those numbers is that a May rate hike by the RBA next week is now very much in play.

And as inflation fears continue to rattle global markets, US stocks tanked again overnight on the continued prospect of even faster Fed rate hikes.

How did the ASX respond to all of that? By acting really… weird.

The microcap Emerging Companies index promptly slumped by more than 3% at the open, before the entire market clawed back some ground.

This all happened before the inflation data, which stocks only had a muted reaction to.

After yesterday’s huge selloff, the iron ore majors have rebounded today while energy stocks also rose as oil prices stay elevated.

In line with the rising rates environment, ASX tech stocks are again underperforming while gold stocks are also under pressure.

Most other major sectors are also still in the red, but a short time ago the ASX 200 had responded from its early selloff to be trading around 0.7% lower.
 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for April 27 [intraday]:

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Code Company Price % Market Cap
T3D 333D Limited 0.003 50.0% $5,934,593
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.0015 50.0% $3,822,163
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.002 33.3% $34,940,162
BAS Bass Oil Ltd 0.002 33.3% $8,119,022
EVE EVE Health Group Ltd 0.002 33.3% $6,464,713
JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.002 33.3% $11,352,379
SPT Splitit 0.245 28.9% $89,348,762
PCL Pancontinental Energ 0.009 28.6% $50,079,560
BMG BMG Resources Ltd 0.055 27.9% $13,759,641
LV1 Live Verdure Ltd 0.29 26.1% $9,674,795
AFW Applyflow Limited 0.0025 25.0% $5,915,216
DDD 3D Resources Limited 0.0035 16.7% $12,541,116
SIH Sihayo Gold Limited 0.0035 16.7% $11,056,384
PDI Predictive Disc Ltd 0.215 16.2% $254,291,440
BGT Bio-Gene Technology 0.265 15.2% $40,717,663
TSN The Sust Nutri Grp 0.175 12.9% $18,693,990
GIB Gibb River Diamonds 0.07 12.9% $13,113,586
ARE Argonaut Resources 0.0045 12.5% $14,424,819
NYR Nyrada Inc. 0.185 12.1% $25,741,436
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.005 11.1% $8,207,693
CUL Cullen Resources 0.02 11.1% $7,323,459
RMX Red Mount Min Ltd 0.01 11.1% $14,781,275
1ST 1St Group Ltd 0.011 10.0% $5,541,538
SRN Surefire Rescs NL 0.034 9.7% $35,028,230
ANX Anax Metals Ltd 0.115 9.5% $42,044,957
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For the first time in a long while, the resources winner’s list wasn’t populated by junior explorers flagging big new gold/lithium/rare earths/copper (you get the gist) finds.

Outside of minnow stocks ticking upwards, there was a sharp move higher on no news for BNPL player Splitit (ASX:SPT), which at ~25c is trading around 80% shy of the $1.47 level where co-founder Alon Feit sold 13,300,000 shares on-market in February 2021 for a nominal return of $19,551,000.

Among stocks with news, agri-tech company Bio-Gene (ASX:BGT) rose by around 15% following the release of its quarterly 4C trading update.

In mining, WA-based explorer Cullen Resources (ASX:CUL) rose by around 10% after results from its December drilling program revealed “high gold grades intersected across broad widths” at its Damsel prospect.
 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for April 27 [intraday]:

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

Code Company Price % Market Cap
E33 East 33 Limited. 0.0215 -47.6% $11,027,422
ANW Aus Tin Mining 0.001 -33.3% $20,650,180
CT1 Constellation Tech 0.005 -28.6% $10,298,403
360 Life360 Inc. 3.98 -25.5% $984,512,016
HAL Halo Technologies 0.87 -20.9% $142,456,192
SIX Sprintex Ltd 0.06 -20.0% $18,551,575
HXG Hexagon Energy 0.036 -18.2% $19,642,446
3MF 3D Metalforge 0.027 -18.2% $4,766,449
RD1 Registry Direct 0.014 -17.6% $7,106,755
TRS The Reject Shop 4.2 -17.6% $195,465,772
SFM Santa Fe Minerals 0.11 -15.4% $9,466,443
IEC Intra Energy Corp 0.017 -15.0% $11,715,612
INP Incentiapay Ltd 0.017 -15.0% $25,301,273
ERG Eneco Refresh Ltd 0.036 -14.3% $11,439,051
EMT Emetals Limited 0.012 -14.3% $11,900,000
LCT Living Cell Tech. 0.006 -14.3% $7,198,546
99L 99 Loyalty Ltd. 0.026 -13.3% $34,790,483
FIN FIN Resources Ltd 0.026 -13.3% $16,692,144
NC1 Nicoresourceslimited 1.46 -12.8% $146,143,753
ASQ Australian Silica 0.096 -12.7% $30,432,641
MCT Metalicity Limited 0.007 -12.5% $20,444,208
MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.007 -12.5% $6,073,369
TSC Twenty Seven Co. Ltd 0.0035 -12.5% $10,643,256
OSP Osprey Med Inc 0.21 -12.5% $6,158,050
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Among the laggards, oyster company East 33 (ASX:E33) is in the wars.

One day after releasing a quarterly trading update where it said inclement weather had adversely affected the production of Sydney rock oysters, the stock followed up yesterday’s 48.75% fall with another ~46% drop.