ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s grinding for those stimulus dollars today?

Strip clubs in the United States are suing the federal government after being refused access to that $US2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.

Three lawsuits allege these strip clubs – many of which closed their doors in March due to ‘stay-at-home’ orders — are barred from getting stimulus loans because of “the type of business they run”.

If the strip clubs don’t get access to the federal funding, “they may lack the staff and/or funds to reopen following the COVID-19 pandemic,” one lawsuit states.

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Meanwhile, official economic data — which is now rolling in — could be the prick that deflates the share market balloon. Or maybe not; no one truly knows.

US and European share markets closed weaker on Wednesday. This was Europe’s first set of declines in six days, a period which saw markets rebound almost 8 per cent. Madness.

The local bourse followed the trend, with the ASX200 softening 1.71 per cent to 5,372.2 points – which is still an +18 per cent improvement on those March lows:

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday April 16:

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

Budding ‘COVID-19 fighters’ are still getting a good response from the market.

Nanotech play Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) now says its product may have antiviral properties and could be used as a protective layer on smartphone screens and cases.

Initial testing on the top layer of the product showed it “to be effective against viruses and bacteria – including influenza A (subtype H3N2) and E. coli,” the company said. It’s now procuring screens for a production run.

The stock surged +160 per cent in morning trade.

Telehealth software firm Oneview (ASX:ONE) was up as much as 60 per cent after announcing the launch of cloud-based software to help healthcare systems and providers manage patients.

It represents a small but promising reversal for the struggling stock, which is down 82 per cent over the past 12 months.

Pharmaceutical and life sciences company Starpharma (ASX:SPL) also performed strongly on the back of some COVID-19 news.

The stock rose by more than 25 per cent after reporting its VivaGel, “has been shown in laboratory studies to have significant antiviral activity against the coronavirus”.

And finally, the ASX’s six-week IPO drought has well and truly broken with rapid HIV and COVID-19 test kit maker Atomo Diagnostics (ASX:AT1) beginning listed life with a 125 per cent gain on its IPO price.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday April 15:

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