ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Shooting Star leads a Merry Monday for local markets

The ASX didn’t take long to find the right Mood on Monday, as upbeat speculations around the velocity of interest rate cuts at home and abroad respawned and gathered strength over the weekend.

The S&P/ASX200 is up today, gaining 45.50 points or 0.58% to 7,859.90.

Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.45% and is currently 0.64% off of its 52-week high.

US equities struck further all-time highs while we ate smashed avo on Saturday morning in Sydenham.

The Dow Jones hauled ass past the 40,000 threshold for the first time. The S&P500 eased past 5,300. Also new territory.

Local traders have taken up the baton following Wall Street’s euphoric finish to last week, when the interest rate Doves took command, dragging the major US indices to fresh records.

The stalwart US economy dropped lashings of data suggesting slowing US consumer inflation – that alongside ordinary retail sales have freed the arms of the US Fed to swing for the stands of monetary easing.

At home, crap jobs numbers has flavoured markets to the same hue of green.

Sparking the positive sentiment early, however came in the form of brow-beaten Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) which has confirmed multiple approaches for a taste of a little casino M&A.

The beleaguered stock jumped over 20% this morning.

Elsewhere, gains in the Resources stocks are being driven by uranium, nickel, iron ore and gold.

On Friday, China announced several measures to support its struggling property market including the reduction of minimum down payment for mortgages and removal of the floor on interest rates for first and second homes.

Confidence in a more determined effort from Beijing to stimulate its flaccid monster of an economy has rekindled the simple love for Aussie iron diggers – Messrs BHP and Rio Tinto are ahead by circa 2%

The nickel diggers are back in favour, with global prices surging as the French authorities failed to quell spreading violence across New Caledonia.

Nickel prices surged to a nearly nine-month high following political violence which has disrupted production in the Pacific territory’s rich nickel deposits.

Futures contracts spiked nearly 7% on the London Metal Exchange to $21,150.

Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) is up over 3%.

Gold stocks bounced out of the blocks, the biggies like Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) and Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR) are both circa 5% higher this morning, after the first new spot record for gold since record highs got a lot less precious this year.

The gold price is hitting circa $US2,430 per ounce on Monday morning, as the Chinese central bank continues to snap up bullion as the best way to wean itself off a lifetime of hoarding US dollars.

Of course, a topsy-turvy world where one of the Evil Axis can misplace a President in a helicopter, more central bank purchases, and the joys of safe-haven demand in a lower interest rate environment have also helped to put a rocket up non-bearing assets like gold.

In the Energy sector, it’s another big day for local uranium stocks. Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) and Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL) the leading examples.

NOT THE ASX

First up, fans of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) will be cheering for more after the central bank left its one-year loan prime rate (LPR) – that’s Beijing’s benchmark lending rates steady this morning.

Though widely expected, the bank does seem to be backing Beijing’s weekend announcements promising action on the forever property crisis, yonder.

The 1-year LPR remains at 3.45%, while the 5-year holds at 3.95%.

In the States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed beyond the 40,000 points mark for the first time ever on Friday.

US stocks have been in a giddy delight with the Dow clocking a fifth straight weekly gain, ending the week 1.25% ahead, while the S&P500 and the Nasdaq closed strongly as well, delivering an even longer winning run than the smashing of February.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are 11-12% higher, year-to-date, while the Dow after a slower start, is now in pursuit, up by 6%.

We’re not alone in watching Nvidia this week as punters consider what’s next for the greatest AI trade so far.

Nvidia’s earnings drop on Wednesday might set this girl on fire all over again as investors remain limited by the bets they can place on just how transformative AI tech could prove.

Analysts forecast NVDA EPS (earnings per share) to jump to $US5.52 from $US5.16, and revenue to climb to $US24.58 billion from $US22.1 billion.

NVDA’s numbers could either supercharge Wall Street’s ascent or put a skewer through the euphoria. So stand by.

In other corporate news, Reddit’s shares jumped 10% after a deal with OpenAI which I didn’t look at too closely and don’t totally understand.

Walmart jumped 7% after raising FY24 sales and profit forecasts.

Meta shed 1.7% after the EU said it was investigating how much its algorithms are getting the kids hooked on social media.

And Memewhile… Gamestop plummeted 30% and AMC Entertainment by 15% on Friday after last week’s brief revival.

US FUTURES on MONDAY

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 20 May [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Last	%	Volume	Market Cap
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.0015	50%	2,522,693	$1,474,734
IBG	Ironbark Zinc Ltd	0.006	50%	3,398,839	$6,375,490
BML	Boab Metals Ltd	0.155	35%	2,168,869	$23,072,701
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.004	33%	131,575	$3,715,461
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.002	33%	250,000	$3,035,096
AUC	Ausgold Limited	0.034	31%	17,869,802	$59,699,671
SVY	Stavely Minerals Ltd	0.043	30%	2,354,194	$12,604,023
GNM	Great Northern	0.013	30%	200,724	$1,546,291
ERG	Eneco Refresh Ltd	0.009	29%	99,000	$1,906,508
MMA	Maronan Metals	0.355	27%	529,031	$44,687,695
ALR	Altair Minerals	0.005	25%	9,818,105	$14,352,977
BMO	Bastion Minerals	0.01	25%	38,065,931	$3,444,671
OAU	Ora Gold Limited	0.005	25%	1,060,589	$23,224,004
PNX	PNX Metals Limited	0.005	25%	9,489,068	$23,880,859
SUM	Summit Minerals	0.21	24%	4,010,675	$8,101,712
SGR	Star Entertainment Group	0.555	23%	38,574,375	$1,290,906,395
CBH	Coolabah Metals Limi	0.056	22%	241,669	$4,527,292
NMR	Native Mineral Resources	0.03	20%	798,261	$5,246,263
1MC	Morella Corporation	0.003	20%	990,129	$15,446,999
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.012	20%	923,640	$7,966,357
AL3	AML3D	0.067	20%	470,564	$15,082,004
GTK	Gentrack Group Ltd	8.62	20%	220,540	$746,158,350
NXL	Nuix Limited	2.82	18%	1,855,457	$769,998,511
EE1	Earths Energy Ltd	0.013	18%	1,321,000	$5,829,606
EYE	Nova EYE Medical Ltd	0.27	17%	1,109,372	$52,629,353

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Coolabah Metals (ASX:CBH) is back.

Last week Coolabah announced the application for quotation of a whole bunch of new securities on the ASX, including over 5 million options and 22 million ordinary shares in a move which signals a potential expansion and growth phase for the diversified explorer.

This follows the acquisition of the Mundi Mundi project in NSW, which boasts x2 historical fluorite mines.

Fluoride-ion batteries also have the potential to displace lithium-ion batteries as they have a potential eight-fold increase in energy density relative to lithium-ion batteries, according to CBH.

Still with the diggers – and a re-interpretation of historical data at Stavely Minerals’ (ASX:SVY) Junction Prospect has reportedly identified an immediate shallow discovery opportunity.

A new set of eyes apparently has seen copper-gold-silver lode-style mineralisation intersected previously at Junction including “chalcopyrite, bornite and covellite and is very similar to the mineralisation at the Cayley Lode (9.3Mt at 1.23% Cu, 0.23g/t Au, 7g/t Ag).”

That news dropped late last week, with SVY saying drilling will start as soon as a rig can be mobilised.

Stocks in the ever-troubled software firm Nuix (ASX:NXL) have genuinely surged on what looks genuinely good news.

NXL has lifted full year guidance by more than a full third this morning after “general positive trading into the second half” that includes a significant multi-year win.

Nuix says it’ll likely beat its previously stated strategic target of growing statutory revenue by around 10%.

Nuix says it expects statutory EBITDA to come in more than 35% on last year. Underlying EBITDA, which excludes non-operational legal costs, is likely to be in the range of $63m-$68m, up more than 36%.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 20 May [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.002	-33%	672,688	$25,767,358
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,880	$7,988,188
EDE	Eden Innovations	0.0015	-25%	180,000	$7,356,542
MHJ	Michael Hill International	0.495	-20%	954,051	$238,466,857
AEV	Avenira Limited	0.004	-20%	246,904	$11,745,170
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.004	-20%	84,979	$5,049,825
MOH	Moho Resources	0.004	-20%	300,000	$2,695,891
RGL	Riversgold	0.008	-20%	7,791,639	$9,676,615
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.002	-20%	250,693	$4,025,055
ROG	Red Sky Energy	0.004	-20%	112,253	$27,111,136
GLN	Galan Lithium Ltd	0.2375	-18%	7,224,870	$119,782,759
FGL	Frugl Group Limited	0.091	-17%	11,490	$10,925,015
BEO	Beonic Ltd	0.025	-17%	24,000	$12,734,848
ADY	Admiralty Resources	0.01	-17%	302,040	$19,553,687
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.005	-17%	9,666,248	$20,541,310
AON	Apollo Minerals Ltd	0.023	-15%	521,994	$18,801,258
NTL	New Talisman Gold	0.018	-14%	22,917	$9,272,121
CPM	Cooper Metals	0.12	-14%	1,074,044	$10,969,791
TMG	Trigg Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	150,000	$3,024,915
TSL	Titanium Sands Ltd	0.006	-14%	3,392,704	$15,482,230
WEC	White Energy Company	0.03	-14%	340,662	$3,963,237
OCT	Octava Minerals	0.043	-14%	9,927	$2,240,626
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.031	-14%	26,937,739	$116,354,403
RC1	Redcastle Resources	0.019	-14%	420,595	$7,222,251
RSH	Respiri Limited	0.032	-14%	350,133	$39,215,150

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ICYMI – AM EDITION

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) has noted that assays from an infill auger geochemistry program at its Mt Short joint venture tenement operated by 70% owner Woomera Mining (ASX:WML) have defined two lithium anomalies with grades of up to 296ppm lithium.

The work, which followed up on priority targets defined by auger programs completed on the tenement earlier this year.

Results from this program will be used to plan aircore drilling that will be conducted later this year after the harvest period.

Sampling of brine sourced from the thick Mississippian Units at Anson Resources’ (ASX:ASN) recently completed Bosydaba#1 well at its Green River project in southeastern Utah have returned grades of up to 139 parts per million lithium and 4604ppm bromine.

This similar to the Mississippian grades in the Paradox lithium project resource and confirms that the massive, supersaturated brine aquifer at Green River is lithium and bromine rich.

Adding interest, the Mississippian Units at Green River are more than 790ft thick and have lower salt concentrations, which will be beneficial to the proposed lithium extraction process.

Miramar Resources (ASX:M2R) could expand its strategic Eastern Goldfields tenement portfolio after securing an exclusive option to acquire an exploration licence application about 90km east of Kalgoorlie.

EL25/654 (Application) abuts Global Lithium Resources’ (ASX:GL1) Manna lithium project and Kairos Minerals’ (ASX:KAI) recent rare earths discovery at the Black Cat prospect.

It is also adjacent to the company’s existing Randalls and overlies the confluence of three major regional structures, the Avoca, Jubilee and Yilgangie Faults.

M2R believes the new licence application has the potential to host gold, lithium and REE mineralisation, but has been underexplored, with minimal previous drilling.

Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN) has received the final heritage report for its Andover North project in WA’s Pilbara region that affirms that key prospects are clear of heritage concerns.

This paves the way for the company to finalise drilling programs across the project with three Programs of Work (PoW) already submitted for tenements E47/4061, E47/3849 and E47/4063.

Drilling will begin once the PoWs are approved and the company will submit PoWs for the remaining tenements once the tenements are granted.

Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) has appointed Philippa Leggat has its new managing director following the resignation of Andrew Radonjic.

Leggat has over 20 years of experience in advancing domestic and international mineral projects along the value chain and joined the company as a non-executive director in 2023 to lead the board renewal process.

She has served as an executive director and advisor to ASX listed companies engaged in capital raising, exploration, development and project evaluation, giving her a track record in negotiating value accretive project acquisitions, identifying and communicating an organisation’s competitive advantages to raise its profile.

“We are excited to be appointing Philippa Leggat as managing director at this is pivotal time for the company, where there is a clear opportunity to significantly advance the Jupiter rare earths project, restructuring the company to best position VMS for opportunities in critical minerals, and create substantial shareholder value,” non-executive chairman Tim Lindley said.

“We have a vision to make Venture one of the best rare earths and critical minerals companies in Australia. Philippa’s appointment is the next key step in that journey.”

Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) has raised $2.5m through an oversubscribed placement of shares priced at 22c each – a 12.3% discount to the 15-day volume weighted average price.

Proceeds from the placement will be used to advance its North Stanmore heavy rare earths project near Cue, Western Australia.

This includes completion of an updated resource estimate, further project study work and metallurgical testing.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Anax Metals, Anson Resources, Miramar Resources, Raiden Resources, Venture Minerals and Victory Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.