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.
CODE NAME PRICE % CHANGE VOLUME MARKET CAP ANW Aus Tin Mining 0.0015 50 5,116,467 $10,062,318 APG Austpac Resources NL 0.0015 50 1,300,000 $3,165,663 CLZ Classic Min Ltd 0.0015 50 12,590,333 $17,556,867 MLS Metals Australia 0.003 50 3,600,000 $8,381,807 DTM Dart Mining NL 0.24 37 11,598,067 $17,490,458 XTC Xantippe Res Ltd 0.002 33 5,765,055 $6,111,847 ASN Anson Resources Ltd 0.086 28 27,166,756 $59,888,462 BPH BPH Energy Ltd 0.13 24 18,462,128 $69,816,536 DAV Davenport Resources 0.099 22 6,568,272 $34,274,869 AJL AJ Lucas Group 0.04 21 1,895,139 $39,477,459 XST Xstate Resources 0.0145 21 36,913,875 $32,275,050 LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.012 20 1,819,613 $10,350,283 VIC Victory Mines Ltd 0.003 20 13,621,711 $13,795,632 NC6 Nanollose Limited 0.115 20 99,396 $11,438,313 BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 0.785 19 3,289,524 $561,790,332 CTO Citigold Corp Ltd 0.013 18 1,641,738 $29,927,405 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.081 17 91,126,766 $184,553,929 ZEU Zeus Resources Ltd 0.036 16 2,136,721 $5,584,650 PEC Perpetual Res Ltd 0.095 16 970,439 $38,993,329 HMX Hammer Metals Ltd 0.115 15 800,562 $75,008,679 RCP Redbank Copper Ltd 0.115 15 1,983,075 $51,565,073 SHE Stonehorse Energy Lt 0.023 15 6,501,141 $9,900,919
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.
| CODE | NAME | PRICE | % CHANGE | VOLUME | MARKET CAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEM | Memphasys Ltd | 0.06 | -35 | 10,113,068 | $69,899,197 |
| ECT | Env Clean Tech Ltd. | 0.001 | -33 | 633,333 | $14,401,549 |
| GAL | Galileo Mining Ltd | 0.25 | -25 | 2,731,271 | $47,938,904 |
| CCE | Carnegie Cln Energy | 0.003 | -25 | 63,828,428 | $50,992,346 |
| NRX | Noronex Limited | 0.12 | -20 | 2,021,890 | $17,977,718 |
| XPE | Xped Limited | 0.002 | -20 | 4,000,000 | $7,973,232 |
| TTA | TTA Holdings Ltd | 0.022 | -12 | 100,000 | $3,435,585 |
| VXR | Venturex Resources | 0.315 | -11 | 8,572,568 | $141,257,750 |
| ARO | Astro Resources NL | 0.004 | -11 | 250,000 | $13,480,619 |
| CAG | Caperangeltd | 0.18 | -10 | 20,368 | $18,981,660 |
| AEV | Avenira Limited | 0.009 | -10 | 3,685,240 | $8,628,528 |
| EN1 | Engage:Bdr Limited | 0.0045 | -10 | 5,451,532 | $12,242,857 |
| RDG | Res Dev Group Ltd | 0.04 | -9 | 37,500 | $123,645,116 |
| SUP | Superior Lake Res | 0.15 | -9 | 28,641 | $27,111,341 |
| MAN | Mandrake Res Ltd | 0.155 | -9 | 4,906,570 | $56,881,850 |
| SRK | Strike Resources | 0.16 | -9 | 252,584 | $43,248,497 |
| BUX | Buxton Resources Ltd | 0.068 | -8 | 21,608 | $10,068,102 |
| MOB | Mobilicom Ltd | 0.071 | -8 | 61,414 | $19,861,127 |
| NAE | New Age Exploration | 0.012 | -8 | 3,300,000 | $15,854,058 |
| TML | Timah Resources Ltd | 0.048 | -8 | 10,443 | $4,768,102 |
| ARE | Argonaut Resources | 0.013 | -7 | 3,051,904 | $40,780,200 |
| SPQ | Superior Resources | 0.013 | -7 | 223,349 | $19,279,030 |