ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who’s trying to pull the wool over our eyes today?

Doritos reckon they’re latest victim of shrinkflation.

That’s when food companies try to sell you less product in the same size package to save money – while blaming inflation.

Parent company Frito-Lay has reduced the number of Doritos per packet by 5 chips.

They’re not the first company to try it.

Gatorade has reduced its 940ml bottle to 820mls and Wheat thins reckons family size is about 50 grams, or 28 fewer crackers, than before.

And while doesn’t sound like much, it could save Frito-Lay more than $50 million and you’d save nothing because the price per packet stays the same.

Yay capitalism!

The company that makes Doritos made $42 billion in profit last year. The company that makes Bounty toilet paper made $39 billion in profit last year. The company that makes Wheat Thins made $11 billion in profit last year.

This isn’t inflation, it’s corporations ripping you off. https://t.co/b4iDV6Jwja

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 10, 2022

To Markets …

The ASX 200 is up 10.30 points or 0.14% at midday today to 7,261.10.

Chinese stocks ended the session higher yesterday, buoyed by top policy makers’ promises of market-friendly policies, including milder regulation of the heavyweight tech sector.

Property companies, home-appliance makers and interior-decoration stocks led the upturn, riding on officials’ show of support for the real-estate sector, as well as the government’s suspension of a planned expansion of property tax trials.

In London, the Bank of England raised its key policy rate to 0.75% from 0.5%, marking its third straight hike in as many meetings.

The central bank said that economic growth in Britain was likely to slow due to higher energy prices and softened its guidance for further monetary tightening, investors said.

“In the wake of the Fed and BoE rate hikes, traders have turned more defensive, and much of yesterday’s bullishness in markets has been pruned back,” IG Group says.

US stock indexes rallied for a third straight day, putting the S&P 500 on pace for its biggest weekly gain since late 2020.

Stocks held on to gains despite a surge in crude prices, with investors saying that they are taking oil market gyrations spurred by the war in greater stride.

“It may stay volatile until Russia gets a little clearer, but underneath this is really good fundamentals,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group.

The International Energy Agency said 3 million barrels per day of Russian oil and products could be shut in from next month. The Brent crude price jumped by 8.8% – the most since mid-2020 – to US$106.64 a barrel. And the US Nymex crude price surged by 8.4% to US$102.98 a barrel.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for March 18 [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.002	100%	$22,933,441.13
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.003	50%	$3,935,856.25
MCM	Mc Mining Ltd	0.12	38%	$13,434,501.29
WNX	Wellnex Life Ltd	0.1025	25%	$24,871,076.75
E2M	E2 Metals	0.255	24%	$30,846,598.67
HAR	Harangaresources	0.26	21%	$8,990,014.30
GTR	Gti Resources	0.0265	20%	$24,833,187.02
SBR	Sabre Resources	0.006	20%	$10,174,068.25
PVW	PVW Res Ltd	0.57	19%	$33,250,500.00
AGH	Althea Group	0.165	18%	$44,173,905.30
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.034	17%	$26,304,754.67
BOT	Botanix Pharma Ltd	0.075	17%	$62,281,092.74
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.023	15%	$35,177,187.00
1MC	Morella Corporation	0.031	15%	$139,757,777.62
EQE	Equus Mining Ltd	0.195	15%	$29,593,082.18
AHN	Athena Resources	0.008	14%	$5,690,772.91
IXR	Ionic Rare Earths	0.067	14%	$201,243,071.33
TER	Terracom Ltd	0.475	13%	$316,515,204.60
AZL	Arizona Lithium Ltd	0.1525	13%	$269,698,471.43
IVZ	Invictus Energy Ltd	0.18	13%	$106,732,345.92
MEB	Medibio Limited	0.0045	13%	$9,587,960.49
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.009	13%	$46,192,679.38
ZMM	Zimi Ltd	0.009	13%	$7,839,355.42
ESS	Essential Metals Ltd	0.41	12%	$89,154,438.64
GL1	Globallith	2.03	12%	$246,378,238.94

Health stock Wellnex Life (ASX:WNX) has inked a supply agreement with GlaxoSmithKline for the supply in Australia and New Zealand of its existing soft gel liquid analgesic, for a minimum term of three years.

GlaxoSmithKline is one of the world’s largest and leading global healthcare companies.

PVW Resources (ASX:PVW) also rose strongly after posting an investor presentation highlighting its Tanami rare earths project in northern WA.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Code	Company	Price	%	Market Cap
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.001	-50%	$7,644,325.48
EVE	EVE Health Group Ltd	0.002	-33%	$12,929,425.67
UUL	Ultima Utd Ltd	0.27	-21%	$24,924,558.16
BAS	Bass Oil Ltd	0.0025	-17%	$13,838,044.37
CLB	Candy Club	0.105	-16%	$45,933,245.13
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.021	-16%	$8,516,653.40
ICT	Icollege Limited	0.1	-13%	$124,516,563.15
IDT	IDT Australia Ltd	0.17	-13%	$46,969,487.57
EGN	Engenco Limited	0.5	-12%	$179,832,652.74
ATV	Activeportgroupltd	0.115	-12%	$12,632,428.90
PHL	Propell Holdings Ltd	0.069	-12%	$6,362,294.02
OAU	Ora Gold Limited	0.016	-11%	$17,684,020.24
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.004	-11%	$5,794,291.56
CI1	Credit Intelligence	0.009	-10%	$16,027,235.18
DLT	Delta Drone Intl Ltd	0.018	-10%	$5,997,726.00
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.0045	-10%	$46,169,825.72
VKA	Viking Mines Ltd	0.01	-9%	$11,277,842.74
OEQ	Orion Equities	0.2	-9%	$3,442,830.16
M3M	M3Mininglimited	0.155	-9%	$5,340,231.76
BUX	Buxton Resources Ltd	0.105	-9%	$15,646,374.68
OAK	Oakridge	0.16	-9%	$3,009,243.83
RPM	RPM Automotive Group	0.27	-8%	$43,985,751.69
BSA	BSA Limited	0.11	-8%	$52,348,256.64
IMC	Immuron Limited	0.11	-8%	$27,335,801.52
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.011	-8%	$20,861,248.18