Australia Post has kicked off a campaign to urge dog owners to secure their pets, with dog attacks on posties on the rise.

Five Aussie Post team members are involved in dog incidents a day, and more than 1,100 have been recorded in this financial year alone – that’s almost 400 times more than last year.

Australia Post Group CEO Paul Graham said posties had ongoing trauma and anxiety due to injuries sustained in attacks.

“These are people rushed to hospital. People who have had their calf muscle torn off, their tendons ruined, and lost the use of their hands in the normal way, through bites,” he said.

RSPCA Victoria has recommended people keep their dogs away from the front yard and fence – and that maybe posties should carry treats to throw which “could also help dogs be less afraid.”

 

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is down 6.50 points or 0.088% at midday today to 7,340.50.

With four months in the books, the US stock market is putting in its worst performance in decades. The S&P 500, down 13% so far this year, has had its worst start to a year since 1939, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

“It’s a market that is jittery and nervous,” said Sebastien Galy, a macro strategist at Nordea Asset Management. “It has been fed liquidity for a long time, and this has been built into expectations for stocks,” he said, a situation that is now changing as central banks tighten monetary policy.

Investors are awaiting the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting Wednesday for more signals on the pace of monetary tightening, with markets anticipating a rate increase of half a percentage point to counter the highest inflation in decades. The war in Ukraine and a Covid-19 outbreak in China threaten to further snarl supply chains and boost prices.

Oil prices recovered their losses and then some, with US crude up 0.5% at $105.17 a barrel. European Union officials are working on a proposal to sanction Russian energy. Some observers are sceptical it will pass since it requires unanimous support from EU members, many of whom rely on Russian energy, according to analysts at Nordic bank SEB.

Traders also are monitoring lockdowns in China and looking ahead to a meeting of the OPEC+ alliance later this week, where members are set to discuss its supply agreement.

In Australia, the Reserve Bank Board meets today to make its decision on interest rates.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

 

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 3 [intraday]:

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

 

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Monger Gold (ASX:MMG) is set to acquire American Consolidated lithium – which holds the rights to acquire the Scotty Lithium project in Nevada, USA.

Notably, Scotty adjoins and surrounds the Bonnie Clare project – which is host to one of North America’s largest lithium resources.

The project is just 70km from Albermarles’ Clayton valley mine which is the only producing lithium mine in the US, and it’s 330km from Tesla’s Gigafactory.

“We are delighted to secure the Scotty Lithium Project for our shareholders at a very modest upfront cost with the majority of the consideration contingent upon the delineation of a significant JORC (2012) Resource of up to 500Mt at a grade of at least 1,000ppm lithium,” chairman Peretz Schapiro said.

“This would be a very large Resource – which illustrates the considerable upside of this acquisition.”

Metalstech (ASX:MTC) hit an incredible 173.2m grading 3.27g/t gold and 11.8g/t silver in drilling at the ‘Sturec’ gold mine in Slovakia.

And Legacy Iron Ore (ASX:LCY) has received an initial $4.8m payment from its JV with Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting over the ‘Mt Bevan’ iron ore project.

Still on the JV theme train, Discovex Resources (ASX:DCX) and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) have signed a farm-in deal over the ‘Syvania’ project, whereby Rio will pay up to $9.3m to acquire the iron ore rights.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

 

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Listing on the ASX today was Equity Story Group  (ASX:EQS) which offers stock market trading advice, research, investor education and fund management – and Glenn McGrath is on board.

But so far in early morning trade the company’s share price is trading down 30% at $0.14.

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