ASX Small Caps and IPO Weekly Wrap: Local markets have weathered the storm of global conflict and US data

Not a bad week for the ASX 200, up 1.8% for the week by the end of play Friday
Health giant CSL heaved its considerable bulk to hold the market back
Fin Resources won the week, after finding lithium pretty much where it expected to

Given the upheavals taking place around the world this week, the ASX has performed rather well, thanks in no small part to a surging gold price brought about by a desperate rush for safe haven, now that things have kicked off again in the Middle East.

It proved to be hard yards for a few of the other Israeli companies that are listed on the ASX at present, including a very difficult 10.5% slump for HeraMED (ASX:HMD) and a 13.3% fall for Way2VAT (ASX:W2V) .

But overall, the market has behaved itself and turned in a decent showing – here’s what it looked like from a sector breakdown perspective.

asx week winner FIN — Chart via Marketindex.com.au

As you’d expect in the face of global turmoil (above and beyond the usual pearl-clutching and hand-wringing over US CPI and jobs data), Utilities, Energy and Materials all did rather well, as oil and gold prices surged.

In fact, as the chart above shows, it was only really Health Care that shat the bed this week – and that can pretty much be directly attributed to CSL (ASX:CSL), which gave the bourse a collective heart attack with a dive for the basement that was as sudden as it was costly.

CSL is set to end the week down nearly 3.0%, which doesn’t sound like a horror show until you remember that it’s worth more than the rest of the Health Care sector combined – making it about as serious an anchor on the segment as you could possibly imagine.

While there’s no direct cause for the slump, theories about it abound, including news that major competitor Novo Nordisk’s Amazing Cure for Everything™ (aka Ozempic) could actually turn out to be useful in the fight against chronic kidney disease, as well as being excellent for diabetics and even more excellent for soccer mums who are struggling to fir into this season’s Lulu Lemons.

This week, CSL dove through a four-year low, and has been falling sharply since mid-June, when the company blamed “foreign currency headwinds” for a blowout – and it’s only today’s 1.6% rally that is keeping the Health Care sector off life support altogether.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from 09-13 October:

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

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.023	109%	$11,799,672
ZAG	Zuleika Gold Ltd	0.02	82%	$9,414,911
KRR	King River Resources	0.017	70%	$24,856,399
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.005	67%	$4,843,811
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.014	56%	$28,529,996
FGR	First Graphene Ltd	0.105	50%	$64,984,167
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0015	50%	$31,285,147
MOB	Mobilicom Ltd	0.009	50%	$13,266,767
TG1	Techgen Metals Ltd	0.03	50%	$1,929,207
MAUCA	Magnetic Resources	0.4	48%	$8,167,545
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.016	45%	$7,346,592
STK	Strickland Metals	0.1025	39%	$144,066,690
MGT	Magnetite Mines	0.395	34%	$24,948,641
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.002	33%	$11,649,361
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.012	33%	$5,147,829
MOH	Moho Resources	0.008	33%	$2,720,355
SRY	Story-I Limited	0.004	33%	$1,505,619
ABY	Adore Beauty	0.97	32%	$82,168,951
BIT	Biotron Limited	0.1	32%	$82,089,157
AX8	Accelerate Resources	0.03	30%	$13,980,066
PL3	Patagonia Lithium	0.15	30%	$7,350,525
5EA	5Eadvanced	0.455	30%	$155,337,677
SPX	Spenda Limited	0.013	30%	$47,804,024
BPH	BPH Energy Ltd	0.026	30%	$26,541,824
NGL	Nightingale Intel	0.065	30%	$6,638,386
CRS	Caprice Resources	0.04	29%	$4,670,277
CZR	CZR Resources Ltd	0.18	29%	$42,432,236
NGY	Nuenergy Gas Ltd	0.032	28%	$47,390,576
VN8	Vonex Limited.	0.019	27%	$7,960,230
CMD	Cassius Mining Ltd	0.039	26%	$21,359,313
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.0025	25%	$7,559,413
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.0025	25%	$10,574,477
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.0025	25%	$15,368,615
TOY	Toys R Us	0.015	25%	$11,997,935
AMA	AMA Group Limited	0.046	24%	$81,525,758
LPI	Lithium Pwr Int Ltd	0.435	24%	$261,133,587
A11	Atlantic Lithium	0.52	24%	$296,937,205
AIS	Aeris Resources Ltd	0.21	24%	$148,553,303
JAT	Jatcorp Limited	0.37	23%	$30,808,574
CCA	Change Financial Ltd	0.069	23%	$43,308,636
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.008	23%	$10,278,757
M2M	Mtmalcolmminesnl	0.032	23%	$3,274,992
SER	Strategic Energy	0.016	23%	$8,258,857
HIO	Hawsons Iron Ltd	0.059	23%	$52,387,050
CTQ	Careteq Limited	0.027	23%	$5,997,318
PGY	Pilot Energy Ltd	0.027	23%	$28,014,055
FEG	Far East Gold	0.19	23%	$34,315,180
GT1	Greentechnology	0.495	22%	$100,099,436
NHE	Nobleheliumlimited	0.22	22%	$50,383,993
RVS	Revasum	0.165	22%	$19,064,998

The standout performer for the week was undoubtedly Fin Resources (ASX:FIN) , up handsomely thanks to some welcome news from the company’s maiden fieldwork program at Cancet West in James Bay, Canada.

The news is simple enough: the company’s had a solid look around the site, and identified “abundant spodumene crystals within a broad pegmatite outcrop” – which is music to the ears and eyes of anyone looking to get into the lithium game.

Mobilicom (ASX:MOB) has had a geopolitics-defying week, considering the massive upheavals in its home nation of Israel.

Despite the unfolding horrors there, the company still managed to put on around 67% for the week.

Zuleika Gold (ASX:ZAG) rounds out the top three performers for the week, up around 64% on news that super-investor Mark Creasy sunk $3 million into a subscription cash deal with Zuleika, via Yandal Investments.

All of those are covered in more detail down below, so do read on…

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from 18-22 September:

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

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.003	-40%	$3,644,818
RHY	Rhythm Biosciences	0.195	-39%	$40,911,379
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.004	-38%	$11,747,919
KZA	Kazia Therapeutics	0.099	-38%	$25,998,431
VTI	Vision Tech Inc	0.26	-35%	$7,589,138
TMB	Tambourahmetals	0.11	-35%	$10,782,246
VMT	Vmoto Limited	0.15	-33%	$47,889,648
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.002	-33%	$4,514,356
LVT	Livetiles Limited	0.006	-33%	$7,062,664
MCM	Mc Mining Ltd	0.1	-33%	$37,968,194
ZEU	Zeus Resources Ltd	0.01	-33%	$4,592,810
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.0025	-29%	$4,355,980
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.005	-29%	$6,286,459
VAR	Variscan Mines Ltd	0.01	-29%	$3,566,147
GRE	Greentechmetals	0.28	-27%	$16,978,667
CR1	Constellation Res	0.11	-27%	$5,988,651
IBX	Imagion Biosys Ltd	0.0125	-26%	$20,892,265
EWC	Energy World Corpor.	0.028	-26%	$86,209,795
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.0015	-25%	$3,200,685
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.0015	-25%	$2,002,095
G50	Gold50Limited	0.105	-25%	$12,840,086
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.009	-25%	$2,601,723
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.0015	-25%	$2,951,892
LBT	LBT Innovations	0.009	-25%	$3,914,904
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.0015	-25%	$15,569,766
SIX	Sprintex Ltd	0.015	-25%	$5,022,595
TSO	Tesoro Gold Ltd	0.015	-25%	$15,804,189
WFL	Wellfully Limited	0.003	-25%	$1,478,832
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.003	-25%	$2,230,384
YAR	Yari Minerals Ltd	0.013	-24%	$6,753,009
1AE	Auroraenergymetals	0.1	-23%	$16,716,728
DTR	Dateline Resources	0.01	-23%	$8,854,428
ZNC	Zenith Minerals Ltd	0.1	-23%	$35,238,088
MFG	Magellan Fin Grp Ltd	6.81	-23%	$1,277,280,569
SOM	SomnoMed Limited	0.55	-23%	$64,068,924
AVJ	AVJennings Limited	0.275	-22%	$140,334,142
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.105	-22%	$7,645,440
RDS	Redstone Resources	0.007	-22%	$6,971,028
XPN	Xpon Technologies	0.042	-21%	$6,895,947
BRX	Belararoxlimited	0.48	-21%	$27,530,331
SEG	Sports Ent Grp Ltd	0.195	-20%	$50,916,845
AHK	Ark Mines Limited	0.18	-20%	$8,803,228
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.002	-20%	$2,942,401
DCX	Discovex Res Ltd	0.002	-20%	$6,605,136
EMU	EMU NL	0.002	-20%	$2,900,043
ERL	Empire Resources	0.004	-20%	$4,451,740
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.002	-20%	$23,083,316
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.006	-20%	$9,091,175
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.002	-20%	$5,514,797
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.004	-20%	$2,454,377

HOW THE WEEK SHOOK OUT

Monday October 09, 2023 – ASX up +0.23%

Fin Resources (ASX:FIN) was the day’s standout performer, up 64% at the close after its maiden fieldwork program identified abundant spodumene crystals within a broad pegmatite outcrop at Cancet West in James Bay, Canada.

King River Resources (ASX:KRR) secured itself a speeding ticket from the ASX, up 40% in the AM, up 20% in the arvo.

PainChek (ASX:PCK) was up 40% in the morning, but then lost 28%. Just like that.

Vonex (ASX:VN8) was up 33%, possibly due to cost cutting, or it could be a random gamble. VN8 does its thing on the cloud and provides the full gamut of traditional telecommunications products such as mobile and internet.

Mobilicom (ASX:MOB) came out the gate strongly, up circa 20% int the morn but the surge lacked urge and it closed up 16.7% – possibly because the company has requested an extension prior to an upcoming voluntary delisting to allow shareholders to complete converting their shares into American Depositary Shares.

The day’s late mover was Cleanspace (ASX:CSX), which designs, makes, and flogs “premium respiratory protection equipment for industrial and healthcare markets” – it rose 10% in short order before the close.

Tuesday October 10, 2023 – ASX up +1.0%

Mobilicom (ASX:MOB), not long for this bourse, jumped circa 40% yesterday, after receiving ‘a number of inquiries from shareholders in Australia requesting additional time to complete the conversion process of ordinary shares into American Depositary Shares (ADSs)’.

That’s because last month MOB broke the news that it’ll be removed from the official list of ASX shares and make its forever home on the Nasdaq.

“In an effort to accommodate its shareholders, the Company has decided to extend the proposed Delisting date to 19 October 2023 to allow current shareholders the ability and time to be able to transfer their fully paid ordinary shares to ADSs if they wish to do so,” MOB says.

Nightingale Intelligent Systems (ASX:NGL) finalised an expanded contract with the San Pablo Police Department (SPPD), which invested in two additional AI-powered Blackbird Robotic Aerial Security (RAS) systems, bringing their total to five.

Here’s the kicker and why the share price was topping out on Tuesday: as part of the expansion with SPPD, Nightingale obtained Tactical Beyond Visual Line of Sight (TBVLOS) approval for its Blackbird drones from the US Federal Aviation Administration, which holds the keys to the US drone kingdom.

CZR Resources (ASX:CZR) jumped early and stayed high on news the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) at the Robe Mesa iron ore project in the Pilbara looks “set to generate exceptional financial returns”.

The main talking points of the announcement included increased ore reserves at the project, from 8.2Mt in the pre-feasibility study (PFS), to 33.4Mt and production rates have increased from 2Mtpa in the PFS to 3.5-5Mtpa in the DFS.

Pure Resources (ASX:PR1) up on news it’s staked 13.5km2 of exploration claims in the Crystal Mountain Pegmatite District, Colorado, and Atlantic Lithium (ASX:A11) is higher on word Ghana’s first lithium mine has been boosted by government acquiescence in diverting two transmission lines that run right across A11’s planned mining area.

And DomaCom (ASX:DCL) was up Up 38% to 0.022 cents after it started a capital raise of up to $6 million via convertible notes, the company saying the cash infusion ‘fortifies the company’s financial position enabling further expansion.

Wednesday October 11, 2023 – ASX up +0.6%

Kalgoorlie-focused Zuleika Gold (ASX:ZAG) with four gold projects in the post topped the charts Wednesday courtesy of a late Tuesday Mark Creasy flavoured revelation. The company revealed a subscription cash deal with one of the legendary West Aussie prospector/investor’s various toys – Yandal Investments – for the raising of $3m.

The subscription price was at a 28% premium. Handy.

5E Advanced Materials (ASX:5EA) was up more than 25% on news the step-rate testing is underway and should quickly ID the porosity of the boron-loving small cap’s ore body and form a base-line parameter at Fort Cady Borate project in California, which hosts a multi-generational borate resource where boric acid, borate specialty materials, gypsum, and potassium sulphate will be produced.

Easy for them to say.

And Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) was up well over 20% after getting paid US$10m from Quantum Metal Recovery, as per conditions set by a US$300 million Gold Purchase Agreement back in May.

Thursday October 12, 2023 – ASX up +0.3%

Taking the Thursday meat tray home was Redbubble (ASX:RBL) – the online marketplace connecting independent artists with customers that we don’t often hear from, but which dropped news of a remarkable turnaround and jumped +25%.

According to RBL, it’s turned to a positive underlying cash flow of $0.7 million, up $16.9 million on prior corresponding period (pcp) and up $5.5 million on the fourth quarter of FY23.

That’s allowed the company to build its cash balance to $39.9m, up $4.2m from 30 June 2023, which the company has attributed to “a number of recently-implemented initiatives”. These include: “the introduction of artist account tiers on the Redbubble and TeePublic marketplaces and a dynamic order routing system for the Redbubble marketplace in the US, as well as further optimisation of paid marketing spend”.

Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI) also climbed, up 18.5% in very short order on no news – which was enough to have the ASX push it into a trading pause just minutes after the market opened, and then into a complete halt. Rob Badman put on his journo hat (which is one of those multicoloured propellor caps kids from the 1950s wore) and sniffed out something takeover related, which you can read here.

Friday October 13, 2023 – ASX down -0.45%

Horseshoe Metals (ASX:HOR) staged a late surge to take top spot for Small Caps on Friday, jumping a very handy 50% in short order off the back of a happy and well-received half-year report.

There’s a bit to digest in there, but the nuts and bolts of it are a sizeable reduction in losses compared to the same period last year, down to $646,912 against 2022’s $1,596,059 drop, which corresponds to a diluted loss per share of $0.106 versus the $0.304 loss last year.

Fertoz (ASX:FTZ), climbing 40.3% early on Thursday’s news that its Fertify NPKS plant in Montana, USA has achieved nameplate capacity of 40,000 tons per annum after two months of operation, but eased to around +25% by close of play.

Fertoz has reached the milestone with the facility working at double-shift capacity, but says that 50,000 tons per year is “achievable with triple shift operation”, as it ramps up production of its regenerative and organic all-in-one NPKS pellets to farmers in time for Spring in the US.

Meanwhile, peer-to-peer investing solution provider SelfWealth (ASX:SWF) was up 22% after acknowledging there’s some truth behind recent media speculation of a potential transaction with Stakeshop.

However, that offer was knocked back in short order by Selfwealth as it “did not offer appropriate value to Selfwealth shareholders”, and as such there’s been very little in the way of negotiation on the topic thus far.

Fin Resources (ASX:FIN) resumed its recent climb, up 21% (+110% for the week) on Monday’s news about abundant spodumene crystals within a broad pegmatite outcrop at Cancet West, 45km west of Winsome Resources’ (ASX:WR1) Cancet lithium deposit and 100km west of Patriot Battery Metals’ (ASX:PMT) Corvette Lithium Deposit.