Aussie markets opened with a bit of a jump this morning, chugged along merrily and then got lazy as the thought of a looming lunch break threw on the brakes.

There is one massive bit of barnstorming news, and that’s WA1 Resources hitting the jackpot – like, for reals. Details are below, but here’s a teaser: It’s up 211% at the time of writing.

… it’s okay… take your time… because we’re as stunned as you are.

It’s news so huge, it’s pushed all thoughts of other random nonsense from our brains today – but fret not, normal Weird News broadcasting will resume tomorrow.

For now, though, let’s get straight into the money.

TO MARKETS

The ASX had the world at its feet as the opening bell rang this morning, within an easy chipshot of the green with a +0.40% drive off the tee that looked like it was going to just keep climbing all day.

Of course, it hasn’t (because of course it hasn’t), soaring through the uprights to +0.6% before landing with a soft ‘plop’ on the edge of the penalty square.

The umpire called the shot ‘out’, prompting a massive argument about the dangers of mixing sport metaphors that continued until bad light stopped play and everyone ate their sandwiches, with the home team just ahead on +0.1%. A game of three halves it is, then.

Across the sectors, and it’s Real Estate cranking out the solid shots this morning, up 2.14% and leadng a very mixed set of results. Utilities has added 1.16% and Consumer Discretionary is up 0.87%.

Consumer Staples, however, has clearly missed the memo, plunging 2.41% so far today and generally being a real dick. Health Care is sulking as well (-0.71%) and Energy is having an undeserved sleep-in, down 0.36%.

There’s only one Large Cap in the winner’s circle today, and it’s Costa Group Holdings (ASX:CGC), which is up 11.2% this morning.

The team at Costa has taken a break from packing mushrooms and berries into paper bags and punnets to alert the ASX that an entity managed by Paine Schwartz Partners (Paine Schwartz) has obtained a relevant interest in 13.78% of the issued securities of Costa, comprising:

  • 9.99% shareholding acquired via purchase trades from various sellers;
  • 2.38% relevant interest pursuant to a total return swap with Citigroup Global Markets which provides for physical settlement subject to receipt of a no objection notification under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) (FATA); and
  • 1.41% relevant interest pursuant to a forward agreement with Citi which provides for physical settlement subject to receipt of a no objection notification under the FATA.

Losing out Big Time this morning though is Medibank Private, which is going to need to make sure its own health cover is up to date because it’s got blood pouring out of a lot of orifices today.

It’s old news now that Medibank has been hacked – but an update yesterday and another this morning has made it abundantly clear that this hack is a bad one, with the company admitting the hacker has had access to:

  • All ahm customers’ personal data and significant amounts of health claims data
  • All international student customers’ personal data and significant amounts of health claims data
  • All Medibank customers’ personal data and significant amounts of health claims data

It gets worse: “As previously advised, we have evidence that the criminal has removed some of our customers’ personal and health claims data and it is now likely that the criminal has stolen further personal and health claims data,” the company says.

“As a result, we expect that the number of affected customers could grow substantially.”

There are already some “relief package” elements available, including counselling, ID theft watch and an offer to cover the cost of replacement primary IDs for those that have been compromised.

But there’s not much that can be done about the fact that the hacker has access to a lot of claims data, which means that someone out there now knows precisely how many haemorrhoids you’ve got.

It’s enough to make you feel sick, really – but maybe things are better overseas? Let’s go see…

 

NOT THE ASX

All the Fancypants Bigshots and Fatcats on Wall Street are probably feeling pretty smug right now, after markets there put on a brave show overnight.

The S&P climbed 1.63%, The Dow shuffled and grumbled its way to a 1.07% rise and tech-heavy Nasdaq threw its considerable bulk around, stacking on 2.25%.

Fast Christian Eddy reports that’s (partially) because the US two-year yield fell slightly last night but the 10-year fell 13 points to 4.11%, which let a few moths out of investors’ wallets and helped local markets rack up a long-overdue hat trick of daily gains.

In Asia, though, things are a lot more muted in and around China, as the reality of Guru Xi’s ascension to a state-issued state of nirvana sets in. Hong Kong and Shanghai have opened flatter than a roadkill raccoon, up 0.07% and 0.17% respectively.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei has surged on news that government scientists have finally developed a cure for Genital Pixelation, which will lead to a normalisation of ForeXXX porn exchange. The Nikkei is up 0.92% as a result.

In commodities, Oil has dribbled to an oozy -0.41% this morning, while gas has done what most gases do, rising swiftly by 1.64%.

In Shiny Things, gold and silver have barely moved the needle this morning, down 0.02% and 0.05% respectively, while copper has put on 0.15% because Everyone Loves Copper.

And it’s a little bit Party Time in the Hall of Crypto Wonders, as BTC got back above US$20k, ETH surged more than 12% overnight and the entire crypto market cap is poking its head around US$1 trillion again, like an unwilling willy on a cold winter’s night.

There’s more to know, and Rob “I was in the pool, goddammit!” Badman has all the juicy beats and deets at Mooners & Shakers.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 26 [intraday]:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin
As we mentioned, the day clearly belongs to WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1), which put out an announcement this morning which was like throwing a firebomb into a fireworks factory.

WA1 has reported that its maiden drilling program has hit paydirt in a massive way, tapping into a mineralised carbonatite system in the West Arunta – the first of its kind in the region.

The numbers of the find look like this:

  • 54m at 0.62% Nb2O5, 0.18% TREO2 , 3.85% P2O5 from 162m within an overall interval of
  • 142m at 0.31% Nb2O5, 0.17% TREO, 3.94% P2O5 from 74m to 216m (EOH) and ending in
  • 2m at 1.22% Nb2O5, 0.22% TREO, 5.73% P2O5

That’s three sets of bullies today!

We’ll cover this in more detail elsewhere today, but for now all you need to know is that this is a monster of a find, WA1’s price has gone screaming past +200% and there are probably a few lucky sods out there whistling the theme tune from Bonanza this morning.

Elsewhere, news that Elmo (ASX:ELO) – the software company, not the muppet – has entered into a scheme Implementation Deed with K1 Investment Management, which the company is heartily recommending its investors agree to.

Shareholders will stand to pocket $4.85 cash per share, which is an enormous. Are you ready for this:

  • 100.4% premium to the last trading price of ELMO shares on 12 October 2022, the final trading day prior to ELMO’s announcement that it had received an expression of interest in acquiring the company.
  • 94.6% premium to the 1-month VWAP3 of ELMO shares to the Undisturbed Date.
  • 84.4% premium to the 3-month VWAP4 of ELMO shares to the Undisturbed Date.

So much news!

Any way you look at it, it’s a massively generous offer that puts a cranking equity value of $486 million on Elmo, which has seen its trading price soar 40.9% this morning to $4.65… $0.20 shy of the offer on the table from K1.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for October 26 [intraday]:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

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