ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s not ‘out of the woods’ yet this Christmas?

To all of our fellow ‘Stockheads’, season’s greetings.

Australia’s east coast is settling in for what looks like a COVID-19 Christmas, as NSW reported nine new cases from more than 60,000 tests overnight.

That’s a lot of tests, but premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state is “not out of the woods” just yet.

Seven of the new cases came from the Avalon cluster, and authorities are on alert for what looks like a case of community transmission from a hotel in Sydney’s CBD. Another case from the northern beaches region has also snuck into Queensland.

Despite all that, markets have now digested (via three straight days of falls) the ‘rona scare, and ASX stocks are on track for their second straight day of strong gains heading into the Christmas break.

Local markets took the cue from a strong global lead overnight, amid optimism that EU and UK lawmakers might actually come to some kind of compromise in the Brexit negotiations.

After wrapping up early today at 2:10pm AEDT, Aussie markets will close over Christmas before reopening on Tuesday, December 29.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday December 24:

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

The morning leaders held their gains into midday trade, as CFOAM (ASX:CFO) rose by 35 per cent after scoring a $US2.4m contract from the US Department of Energy.

And AI tech company Brainchip (ASX:BRN) also got a boost, after announcing NASA had placed an order for its Akida Early Access Evaluation kit to further evaluate the technology.

BRN’s 30 per cent climb saw the stock rise back above 40c, although it’s still well-off its 2020 high of 94c following a highly publicised mid-year surge.

For further analysis, here’s Nick Sundich’s wrap of this morning’s pre-Christmas tech winners.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday December 24:

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