ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s on the lookout for aggressive foxes today?

The U.S. Capital Police in Washington DC have captured a fox after several “aggressive fox encounters” were reported.

Dubbed the ‘Senate Fox’, the animal bit a member of Congress, Rep. Ami Bera.

Politico reporter Ximena Bustillo also got fanged.

“[I] felt something lunge at the back of my leg. Thought it was going to be a small dog or something. Kind of jumped and then it’s like, that’s not a dog. It’s a fox,” Bera said.

“Somebody started saying, ‘Hey, there’s a fox attacking that guy.'”

Animal control officers captured a fox – but it’s not clear if it was the animal that bit people or if any additional foxes are believed to be a threat…

What does the fox say? Last night, I found out…

Joking aside, animal bites are extremely serious. In the case of an encounter, please speak with a physician immediately: https://t.co/J4tmdlZzQI.

Happy to report that I am healthy and back at work serving the people of #CA07. https://t.co/rNX85ItmrK

— Ami Bera, M.D. (@RepBera) April 5, 2022

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is down 59.60 points or 0.79% at midday today to 7,468.30.

Some midday buyers stepped in, after the ASX 200 initially dipped more than 1% following a nervous session on Wall Street overnight.

European stocks ended trading mixed yesterday as investors remain cautious amid the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

“Markets in Europe have had a slightly softer tone after it was announced that the EU was proposing a mandatory phaseout of Russian coal imports in response to the atrocities committed by Russian forces in and around Kyiv, and in Bucha in particular,” CMC Markets says.

The FTSE 100 outperforms other European indices as utility shares rally in anticipation of the UK government publishing its new energy security strategy to tackle soaring energy prices on Thursday, CMC says.

In the US, Fed governor Lael Brainard said at a conference Tuesday that the central bank is strongly committed to taking steps that will cut inflation this year, including by announcing a significant reduction in its $9 trillion asset portfolio next month.

Reducing the Fed’s balance sheet, reversing its efforts to stimulate the economy through the purchase of Treasury securities and mortgage bonds, will help lift market interest rates — and make stocks more expensive relative to less risky assets, said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management.

And global oil prices eased around 1%, pressured by a rising US dollar and growing worries that new Covid-19 cases could slow demand.

But losses were limited by supply concerns due to sanctions on Russia for alleged war crimes.

The Brent crude price fell by 0.8% to US$106.64 a barrel and the US Nymex crude price lost 1.3% to US$101.96 a barrel.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for April 6 [intraday]:

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Gas2Grid’s (ASX:GGX) subsidiary GGX Eromanga is set to acquire a 60% participating interest in each of two of Santos’ (ASX:STO) licences in the Cooper Basin, Queensland, ATP 1063 and ATP 1174.

ATP 1063 and ATP 1174 are along the eastern edge of the Cooper Basin in southwest Queensland, in an area that contains underlying Permian sediments.

They are approximately 100 kms from existing oil and gas production infrastructure and are at exploration stage with several attractive structural leads identified by the company.

The consideration is that GGX will fund seismic acquisition and drilling operations within either of the ATP – as agreed between the parties.

And eventually GGX plans to form a JV – with STO as the operator.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS