ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s showing their true colours today?

The colour red has dominated at the halfway point on the ASX Tuesday, with all 11 sectors, barring Communications, falling into negative territory.

The ASX 200 has slid by 0.38 per cent at lunch.

The health care sector showed the biggest fall, down by 0.56%, with big cap CSL (ASX:CSL) and Cochlear (ASX:COH) dropping by around 1 per cent each. Small cap Volpara Health (ASX:VHT) bucked the trend, rising by 1.05 per cent after recording its largest quarterly increase in net new annual recurring revenue to US$1.1 million.

A few mining shares have also come to life, with no specific company news – most probably driven by the momentum of China’s record GDP numbers that came out yesterday. The Asian giant reported a blistering 18 per cent increase in GDP growth for the March quarter.

The iron ore price has also been driving the miners today, after it rose above US$180 per tonne overnight. Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) jumped by 3 per cent on the news, the biggest performer in ASX big caps so far today.

EML Payments (ASX:EML), meanwhile, rose by more than 2 per cent, after an investor presentation said it was servicing a potentially trillion-dollar payments industry.

Lending company, Latitude Financial (ASX:LFS), has made its debut on the ASX, with its shares rising by 9 per cent so far. The company floated at $2.60, valuing it at $2.6 billion. At lunch close, it was trading at $2.83.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Tuesday April 20th:

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

Small cap winners were also dominated by miners.

The biggest gainer was metals mining company, Audalia Resources (ASX:ACP). Its shares were up by more than 170 per cent this morning on no news. This has forced the company to put a self-imposed trading halt on its shares. Audalia’s main game is the Medcalf vanadium-titanium project in WA.

A couple of other small cap mining caps, Amani Gold (ASX:ANL) and Classic Minerals (ASX:CLZ), have also moved up on no specific news.

Meanwhile, medical devices company Analytica (ASX:ALT) jumped by 25 per cent after announcing a distribution agreement in the Middle East for its PeriCoach pelvic floor exercise device.

Methane gas energy company Kinetiko (ASX:KKO) also gained by more than 27 per cent, after announcing successful gas flow test results in one of its wells in South Africa.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Tuesday April 20th:

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