March got off to a rough start. ASX small caps suffered their worst week since October and the Small Ords Index fell into the red on the year.

But local markets shook off the Monday blues to post strong gains in morning trade today, after US stocks ripped higher into the close on Friday night.

More stimmy (stimulus) cheques are in the post, after President Joe Biden’s $US1.9 trillion COVID relief bill made its way through the US senate over the weekend.

Once approved in Congress on Tuesday, the package will provide an extra $US1,400 for all individuals earnings less than $US75,000.

(We haven’t had time to superimpose Biden’s head on the Jerome Powell money-printing gif, but here’s the original).

Major economies are now emerging out of the pandemic, which is good. But investors are weighing that outlook against the prospect of higher bond yields and a jump in inflation, which could be bad.

For now, it’s more of the former as gains on the ASX were led by the big end of town, where the ASX200 rose more than 1.6 per cent.

After slumping by 4.4 per cent through Thursday and Friday last week, the ASX microcap Emerging Markets Index was around 0.9 per cent higher into midday trade.

US-dollar gold is holding above the $US1,700 an ounce mark after briefly falling through it last week, while Bitcoin is holding above $US51,000.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday March 8:

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

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Among stocks with announcements, Dart Mining (ASX:DTM) led the pack after announcing a drilling program had intersected high-grade gold, silver and copper mineralisation at its Granite Flat project in north-east Victoria.

It marked the first drilling program at Granite Flat for 20 years, DTM said. Chairman James Chirnside also flagged the “wider potential of the prospect”, with “numerous long, lower grade, copper and gold intersections over an extensive area”.

It was a resources focus at the small cap end of town to start the week, as five other companies landed a spot on the morning winner’s list following new announcements — all of them explorers. The full morning resources wrap is here.

LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday March 8:

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

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