ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s got their names mixed up today?

R&B artist Omarion keeps getting confused for the Omicron variant of COVID-19, but he’s taking it in his stride.

Th entertainer is running with the jokes in a series of TikToK videos.

“Hi, this is Omarion. I am an artist — not a variant,” he says.

“So please be aware that if you just so happen to run into me on the street, you don’t have to isolate for 5 days.”

And it’s not the first time people have got his name mixed up.

“The last time I had to do this was in 2000 when everyone confused Y2K with B2K [a former boy band he was part of],” he joked.

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is up 94.80 points or 1.27% at midday today to 7,539.40.

According to Morningstar, European stocks continued their advance as Covid fears abated after AstraZeneca said its vaccine booster was effective against Omicron. The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which tracks the performance of companies across 17 European companies, rose 1%.

In the US, strong inflation data helped prompt the Federal Reserve earlier this month to accelerate a winding down of its pandemic-era stimulus. Investors and central bankers are ostensibly worried that the Omicron variant could add additional pressure to inflation.

Developments in Covid treatments and vaccines seem to be contributing to expectations for an economic recovery in 2022 despite the spread of the Omicron variant, said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS Investments, an asset-management firm for alternative investments.

“We believe Covid is still the investor narrative,” Mr. Bassuk said.

Mr. Bassuk said Thursday’s gains in travel and hospitality stocks reflect investors’ optimism for the containment of the pandemic. Shares of hotel chain Marriott International gained 1.9%, and United Airlines Holdings rose 0.9%.

Investors seem to be positioning themselves for a rebound in global travel in 2022, depending on developments with Covid-19 case rates and policy changes, said Paul Baiocchi, chief ETF strategist at SS&C ALPS Advisors.

“There is an opportunity for increased travel spending,” said Mr. Baiocchi, who expects a rotation into value from growth stocks this year.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for January 4 [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
PCL	Pancontinental Energ	0.002	100%	7154222.81
GT1	Greentechnology	0.65	25%	55120000
MRR	Minrex Resources Ltd	0.053	23%	29152308.64
DLC	Delecta Limited	0.012	20%	12049087.05
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.003	20%	4919820.315
RGI	Roto-Gro Intl Ltd	0.024	20%	6851855.94
M3M	M3Mininglimited	0.35	19%	9266872.76
BIR	BIR Financial Ltd	0.026	18%	2231595.674
CDT	Castle Minerals	0.034	17%	25500994.88
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.17	17%	68702333.28
EGL	Environmental Group	0.345	17%	91044037.52
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.004	17%	12174306.23
CNB	Carnaby Resource Ltd	1.565	16%	159395360
NMT	Neometals Ltd	1.645	15%	781436364.3
XRG	Xreality Group Ltd	0.067	16%	19528605.74
SLM	Solismineralsltd	0.235	15%	5637500
BUD	Buddy Tech	0.016	14%	48539691.09
CMD	Cassius Mining Ltd	0.016	14%	4521898.122
AM7	Arcadia Minerals	0.24	14%	7182000
RTG	RTG Mining Inc.	0.12	14%	83559937.97
FRS	Forrestaniaresources	0.32	14%	7854000
CPM	Coopermetalslimited	0.245	14%	5809300
CVV	Caravel Minerals Ltd	0.375	14%	128650505.6
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.653	13%	101775000
FFC	Farmaforce Ltd	0.052	13%	6011325.08

Company newsflow is still sparse heading into the New Year.

The biggest small cap winner today was Pancontinental Energy (ASX:PCL) up 100% on no news, followed by explorers Green Technology (ASX:GT1) up 25%, Minrex Resources (ASX:MRR) up 23% and Delecta (ASX:DLC) up 20% – all on no news.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0	-33%	34313346.16
MLS	Metals Australia	0	-25%	10477114.72
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0	-25%	15299500.07
ARO	Astro Resources NL	0	-20%	18820965.07
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0	-20%	16470631.93
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0	-20%	6409900.43
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0	-17%	45307721.13
CLE	Cyclone Metals	0	-13%	19812503.49
EXR	Elixir Energy Ltd	0.18	-12%	182805342.1
FG1	Flynngold	0.15	-12%	10784128.5
OZZ	OZZ Resources	0.12	-12%	3978796.25
BMR	Ballymore Resources	0.16	-11%	12858664.18
SBR	Sabre Resources	0	-11%	7775161.421
RCW	Rightcrowd	0.22	-10%	62667782.64
SGI	Stealth Global	0.13	-10%	14456500
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.01	-10%	18545647.24
POW	Protean Energy Ltd	0.01	-10%	6506129.63
TSC	Twenty Seven Co. Ltd	0	-10%	13304069.53
3DA	Amaero International	0.28	-10%	61890234.31
TIG	Tigers Realm Coal	0.02	-10%	274400749.7
IND	Industrialminerals	0.2	-9%	5917875
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.01	-9%	10031624.68
MEB	Medibio Limited	0.01	-9%	11335781.18
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.02	-9%	20501927.36
MDI	Middle Island Res	0.11	-8%	14690186.64