ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who's getting into base metal today?

There’s been a lot said about market volatility so far in 2022.

While that means stocks can fall, it also leaves the door open for some impressive relief rallies.

Case in point; the tech-focused Nasdaq almost chalked up a gain of 10% inside the space of five days last week.

Local stocks picked up the baton on Monday morning, but early gains of almost 1% were tempered into midday trade where the ASX microcap Emerging Companies index was up by around 0.4%.

Across the commodities complex (the dominant driver of Australian equity markets so far this year), prices largely remained elevated into the weekend.

Gold is trading comfortably above US$1,900/oz while Brent crude oil pushed back above US$110/barrel in Asian trade on Monday.

Copper, predicted to be the best-performing commodity of 2022 in the annual analyst survey by law firm White & Case, is holding above US$10,000/tonne.

Nickel prices are still recalibrating after the market broke, but CBA analyst Vivek Dhar said prices “are unlikely to reach pre-invasion levels given Russia accounted for ~17% of Class 1 (high purity) nickel supply”.

But if you’re into base metal (as opposed to base metals), feast your eyes on this barnstorming karaoke cover of Rob Zombie, performed by what looks like someone’s…grandma?

absolutely incredible pic.twitter.com/WDd7eAC2uO

— Aaron Spacemuseum ✈️🚀🏛️ (@A_Hammer_Boy) March 19, 2022

Reflecting the improved risk appetite across markets, ASX tech stocks continued their strong rally led by Afterpay parent Block Inc (ASX:SQ2).

Shares in SQ2 have now ripped higher by around 60% to ~$185 since the stock’s low of ~$116 at the start of Russia’s attack on the Ukraine on February 24.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for March 21 [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
RAP	Resapp Health Ltd	0.093	50.0%	$53,270,219
WMG	Western Mines	0.25	28.2%	$7,143,338
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0025	25.0%	$30,205,147
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.022	22.2%	$7,660,189
RGL	Riversgold	0.044	22.2%	$16,727,275
WSR	Westar Resources	0.11	19.6%	$3,770,396
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.007	16.7%	$31,813,363
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	0.014	16.7%	$156,800,428
AGH	Althea Group	0.215	16.2%	$58,372,661
NOX	Noxopharm Limited	0.37	15.6%	$93,516,144
NFL	Norfolkmetalslimited	0.23	15.0%	$5,655,399
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.031	14.8%	$15,022,930
ICG	Inca Minerals Ltd	0.12	14.3%	$50,527,223
YOJ	Yojee Limited	0.12	14.3%	$118,531,511
AGE	Alligator Energy	0.09	13.9%	$254,211,369
BSA	BSA Limited	0.125	13.6%	$47,985,902
KNO	Knosys Limited	0.11	13.4%	$20,965,454
FRB	Firebird Metals	0.345	13.1%	$16,008,781
STA	Strandline Res Ltd	0.39	13.0%	$387,745,328
MMC	Mitremining	0.18	12.5%	$4,333,616
WEL	Winchester Energy	0.0225	12.5%	$20,204,396
CUS	Coppersearchlimited	0.315	12.5%	$14,283,403
CYQ	Cycliq Group Ltd	0.018	12.5%	$5,560,267
MEB	Medibio Limited	0.0045	12.5%	$9,587,960
TPD	Talon Energy Ltd	0.009	12.5%	$56,190,316

While tech stocks led the big end of town, today’s small cap winner’s list had a heavy resources vibe as a number of junior explorers found demand.

Frontier Resources (ASX:FNT) was among them, after rock chip assays at its Gascoyne project in WA revealed some “exceptional high-grade rare-earth results”, the company said.

Shares in FNT rose by around 30%, and there were similar gains for Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL), after its Kalgoorlie nickel project was granted Major Project Status by the Australian government.

“This recognition will assist in advancing the KNP towards development through streamlining the approvals process and providing access to additional sources of potential project funding,” ARL managing director Andrew Penkethman said.

Leading the market on no news was Terramin Australia (ASX:TZN), which climbed by almost 40% in morning trade.

The stock has now risen by more than 200% since it announced regulatory approval for its Tala Hamza zinc joint venture in Algeria.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for March 21 [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.067	-15.2%	$21,208,453
MAY	Melbana Energy Ltd	0.15	-14.3%	$468,674,546
TSC	Twenty Seven Co. Ltd	0.0035	-12.5%	$10,643,256
N1H	N1 Holdings Ltd	0.185	-11.9%	$17,126,670
MMC	Mitremining	0.16	-11.1%	$4,875,318
CTE	Cryosite Limited	0.49	-10.9%	$26,845,260
TTI	Traffic Technologies	0.025	-10.7%	$20,220,765
SLM	Solismineralsltd	0.18	-10.0%	$7,214,611
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.009	-10.0%	$10,701,492
MR1	Montem Resources	0.036	-10.0%	$10,184,796
JXT	Jaxstaltd	0.028	-9.7%	$10,619,924
BCA	Black Canyon Limited	0.245	-9.3%	$9,344,835
MSI	Multistack Internat.	0.04	-9.1%	$5,997,373
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.005	-9.1%	$11,850,106
PCK	Painchek Ltd	0.04	-9.1%	$49,799,411
TKL	Traka Resources	0.01	-9.1%	$7,576,520
IVT	Inventis Limited	0.1	-9.1%	$6,903,954
CVV	Caravel Minerals Ltd	0.25	-9.1%	$107,208,755
TZL	TZ Limited	0.105	-8.7%	$25,611,433
PGL	Prospa Group	0.85	-8.6%	$153,131,536
KWR	Kingwest Resources	0.16	-8.6%	$42,520,279
IMC	Immuron Limited	0.11	-8.3%	$27,335,802
SPA	Spacetalk Ltd	0.11	-8.3%	$25,929,690
HSC	HSC Technology Group	0.011	-8.3%	$24,272,872
IPT	Impact Minerals	0.011	-8.3%	$26,285,539

Red-hot oil play Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY) cooled off a bit on Monday, giving back around 15% in morning trade.

The company announced the issue of 31,812,050 Performance Rights to executive chairman Andrew Purcell.

Around half of those Rights vested because MAY shares posted a volume-average weighted gain of at least 200% in a 20-day trading period. The other ~15m vested when MAY shares chalked up a 400% gain over the same period.

All up, Melbana shares are still up more than 500% since the end of January.