No, we’re not talking about ‘zombie’ companies — defined as stocks that don’t make enough profits to cover their interest payments, after years of gorging on cheap debt in a low-rates environment.

(Incidentally, companies that meet the ‘zombie’ criteria have now risen to the highest level since September 2000, just after the dot-com bubble burst).

Rather, we bring your attention to a new type of tropical storm — one that comes back from the dead.

The storm in question is Hurricane Paulette, which made landfall in Bermuda on September 14 before being downgraded to a low-pressure system.

But after a six-day break Paulette returned with renewed vigour, and has now been re-classified as a tropical storm off the coast of the Azores islands.

Why you ask? Well, as the US National Weather Service aptly explained, “because 2020”:

On local markets, the storms have abated and it’s been a happy hump day for local investors so far, as the ASX bounced back from a sluggish start to the week with strong gains across the board.

The ASX200 was up 1.7 per cent into midday trade, on track for its best day since September 2, with similar gains for the smaller indices.

The rally follows a strong session on Wall St, and coincides with a selloff in the Aussie dollar which got thumped amid a broader rally in the greenback (USD).

At around US71.3c, the AUD is now trading at its lowest level since early August.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday, September 23:

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

CODE NAME PRICE % CHANGE MARKET CAP
GAS State GAS Limited 0.800 40 $ 83,423,497.98
LIN Lindian Resources 0.024 33 $ 10,475,093.23
EGR Ecograf Limited 0.225 32 $ 61,877,750.56
VRX VRX Silica Ltd 0.145 32 $ 48,961,134.97
RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.018 29 $ 4,147,742.86
ASN Anson Resources Ltd 0.024 26 $ 14,885,570.31
CRM Carbon Minerals Ltd 0.005 25 $ 7,521,397.20
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.003 25 $ 15,676,393.49
LCY Legacy Iron Ore 0.005 25 $ 24,988,954.07
THR Thor Mining PLC 0.02 25 $ 6,806,241.86
CPV Clearvue Technologie 0.29 23 $ 32,533,706.44
RDN Raiden Resources Ltd 0.016 23 $ 7,001,457.49
FYI FYI Resources Ltd 0.195 22 $ 38,938,024.80
GGG Greenland Minerals 0.31 22 $ 303,781,941.15
BRK Brookside Energy Ltd 0.006 20 $ 6,410,000.00
IGN Ignite Ltd 0.026 18 $ 1,970,807.85
MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.013 18 $ 25,485,365.53
SBW Shekel Brainweigh 0.3 18 $ 35,445,000.00
ZEU Zeus Resources Ltd 0.02 18 $ 3,062,550.00
ARO Astro Resources NL 0.007 17 $ 8,777,471.47
SBR Sabre Resources 0.014 17 $ 15,007,755.10
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Graphite company Ecograf (ASX:EGR) was among the leaders, after releasing a company presentation which coincided with Tesla’s Battery Day extravaganza overnight.

Ecograf, which is building graphite production facilities in WA and China, said it’s positioning for a big market opportunity in lithium-ion batteries, where the electric vehicle (EV) market is “forecast to drive +700 per cent growth in natural graphite demand by 2025”, the company said.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday, September 23:

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

CODE NAME PRICE % CHANGE MARKET CAP
CLZ Classic Min Ltd 0.002 -25 $ 26,084,103.96
BUY Bounty Oil & Gas NL 0.021 -22 $ 25,741,826.51
EUR European Lithium Ltd 0.048 -20 $ 40,137,592.50
CZN Corazon Ltd 0.002 -20 $ 8,133,397.86
KPE Kina Petroleum Corp 0.525 -19 $ 8,253,059.75
VPR Volt Power Group 0.003 -17 $ 27,508,600.67
COY Coppermoly Limited 0.016 -16 $ 40,417,065.79
IPB IPB Petroleum Ltd 0.022 -15 $ 5,996,633.55
WBE Whitebark Energy 0.003 -14 $ 14,220,939.43
PKD Parkd Ltd 0.033 -13 $ 2,855,700.00
BUX Buxton Resources Ltd 0.096 -13 $ 14,966,097.52
TMK Tamaska Oil Gas Ltd 0.007 -13 $ 7,120,000.00
ATP Atlas Pearls Ltd 0.008 -11 $ 3,850,845.82
ICG Inca Minerals Ltd 0.05 -11 $ 11,419,034.93
ONX Orminexltd 0.025 -11 $ 15,094,860.70
CWL Consol Financial Hld 0.017 -11 $ 2,409,728.16
FMS Flinders Mines Ltd 0.0045 -10 $ 211,059,294.05
ELT Elementos Limited 0.0045 -10 $ 15,533,018.68
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