• ASX chopped about sideways, losing any slight semblance of  fizz at close: -0.063%
  • IT, Discretionary and Industrials led sectors, while Materials lagged
  • The day’s clear winner was Mantle Minerals, up 50% at day’s end on further exploration prepping news

 

You were right, Eddy. You were right. Stockhead‘s Eddy Sunarto, that is, who predicted the ASX 200 would open flattish this morning. And that was largely due to its inherent habit of copy trading the US market, which closed with a “meh, whatevz” on Friday, modestly down.

That, too, is how proceedings chopped around through the middle of the day and right through Gregor’s lunch wrap (ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, apparently), and how they’ve closed as well today on the local bourse.

As is customary, we’ll drill into a few specifics, further below. But first, a couple of newsy bits and pieces, in (large) bite-sized bullet-point formation.

 

Making headlines

•  Say it isn’t so, Sayona Mining (ASX:SYA): – the lithium giant’s ($1.83b) share price trended down (-6.48%) today thanks to a bunch of votes against several resolutions at a general meeting, according to a report in The Australian this afternoon.

The major sticking point related to top-down company renumeration structures. The Sayona board said it “acknowledges the high level of against votes” for the issue of 10 million shares to managing director and chief executive Brett Lynch and of 10 million options to executive director and chief financial officer Paul Crawford.

More than 45 per cent of the votes were against the resolutions, which were actually all passed.

“The board has engaged with investors and will incorporate that feedback into remuneration structures,” said Sayona in a note on the results.

The Senate hearing into consultancy firms continues, with Deloitte in the spotlight today, following on from the PwC debacle.

The WA Australian Health department has stood down a staff member, connected to Deloitte, according to The Australian. The employee reportedly shared confidential government info, the Senate inquiry learned today, which was told Deloitte’s protocols were “inadvertently breached”.

Meanwhile, Deloitte chair Tom Imbesi has refused to reveal the name of the government department caught up in the misuse of information.

And meanwhile meanwhile, former KPMG partner Brendan Lyon said this today at the Senate inquiry:

“I think there’s four big rotten barrels with some good apples sitting within… I think that’s one of the reasons that a royal commission is probably warranted.”

Fun times on the high accountant seas.

 

TO MARKETS

As noted, then, the ASX 200 closed pretty flat (0.063%) after largely crabbing it all day. Boring, huh?

What about overseas? Glad you asked. Quick rundown… US (as of Friday): S&P 500: -0.10%; Nasdaq: -0.18%; Dow Jones: +0.33%. Japan – Nikkei: -0.09%. China – Shanghai Comp: -0.04%. Hong Kong – Hang Seng: +0.33%.

How about the local sectors? There’s a fraction more to talk about there – with IT, Discretionary and Industrials stocks leading the way, while Materials, Staples and Energy lag… on the whole.

If only there was a handy chart to visualise this with more detail…

Source: marketindex.com.au

How’s about something standing out in terms of large-ish capped gainage? We’re not seeing too much today, but there are these two at least:

Kogan (ASX:KGN) : +6% on no fresh news for the $599m market cap ecommerce gun.

Pantoro (ASX:PNR) : +8% on no news for the goldie known for its WA Halls Creek project among others.

But let’s move further down the batting order, where the real fun is to be had, shall we?

 

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap
MTL Mantle Minerals Ltd 0.0015 50% 525,704 $6,147,446
MBK Metal Bank Ltd 0.028 33% 1,121,834 $5,806,196
TGH Terragen 0.033 32% 89,157 $6,063,469
GHY Gold Hydrogen 0.305 30% 1,062,354 $13,376,910
FFG Fatfish Group 0.019 27% 173,440 $16,322,983
MAU Magnetic Resources 0.755 26% 52,872 $142,172,421
JPR Jupiter Energy 0.025 25% 83,000 $24,597,002
LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.005 25% 7,994,836 $7,373,589
LNR Lanthanein Resources 0.023 21% 17,815,749 $21,309,936
NTI Neurotech Intl 0.053 20% 265,241 $38,452,017
LDX Lumos Diagnostics 0.076 19% 36,732,747 $26,161,742
CI1 Credit Intelligence 0.16 19% 221,617 $11,272,387
YOJ Yojee Limited 0.023 18% 6,151,644 $22,102,517
MRZ Mont Royal Resources 0.2 18% 542,500 $11,642,054
MCA Murray Cod Aust Ltd 0.17 17% 122,483 $111,034,241
DRO Droneshield Limited 0.31 17% 15,484,168 $155,529,457
NYM Narryermetalslimited 0.14 17% 3,338,124 $3,658,500
BEX Bikeexchange Ltd 0.007 17% 500,000 $6,725,901
CXU Cauldron Energy Ltd 0.007 17% 2,284,956 $5,589,412
DEM De.Mem Ltd 0.18 16% 14,871 $38,002,502
ENX Enegex Limited 0.023 15% 253,918 $7,378,320
PKO Peako Limited 0.008 14% 532,527 $3,295,120
SIS Simble Solutions 0.008 14% 184,631 $4,220,655
FLN Freelancer Ltd 0.24 14% 51,589 $94,692,125
MM1 Midasmineralsltd 0.32 14% 193,541 $20,565,835
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Standouts:

Mantle Minerals (ASX:MTL): +50% > As reported earlier by the powerfully moustachioed Reubs, the also increasingly powerful Aussie gold, nickel ‘n’ lithium explorer “is prepping a 15km, 250 hole aircore drilling campaign immediately north of De Grey’s (ASX:DEG) renowned Hemi gold deposit in the Pilbara”. Hence the impressive shares increase today.

Metal Bank (ASX:MBK): +33% on a pending announcement for an agreement for further exploration. A trading halt has ensued in the meantime.

Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR): +25% on encouraging, “significant” and multiple gold hits at its Maiden Earaheedy drill program in WA.

Droneshield (ASX:DRO): +17% > According to Reubs, “the drone killer has been awarded a $33m US government contract. This follows a $9.9m order announced earlier this month from another customer among the Five Eyes community.”

 

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.001 -50% 5,414,208 $31,285,147
VSR Voltaic Strategic 0.041 -44% 54,525,325 $26,970,415
SLM Solismineralsltd 0.59 -43% 6,866,608 $64,807,774
CTN Catalina Resources 0.003 -25% 2,341,250 $4,953,948
FAU First Au Ltd 0.003 -25% 8,088,352 $5,807,973
MXC Mgc Pharmaceuticals 0.003 -25% 107,838,850 $13,402,772
GES Genesis Resources 0.004 -20% 400,000 $3,914,206
NZS New Zealand Coastal 0.002 -20% 1,160,000 $4,135,025
ATC Altech Batt Ltd 0.077 -20% 11,094,454 $136,969,523
KAT Katana Capital 0.905 -19% 480 $37,475,667
POS Poseidon Nick Ltd 0.034 -19% 63,497,573 $142,969,297
CPT Cipherpoint Limited 0.005 -17% 15,041,616 $6,955,450
GTG Genetic Technologies 0.0025 -17% 2,160,393 $34,624,974
GTI Gratifii 0.01 -17% 7,700,944 $14,561,130
IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.01 -17% 8,803 $3,468,964
MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.01 -17% 4,154,165 $8,183,562
TIG Tigers Realm Coal 0.005 -17% 902,573 $78,400,214
SRJ SRJ Technologies 0.051 -16% 142,000 $6,424,279
MPG Manypeaksgoldlimited 0.165 -15% 2,530 $7,092,930
ALM Alma Metals Ltd 0.011 -15% 1,353,490 $14,352,010
HCT Holista CollTech Ltd 0.011 -15% 26,500 $3,624,401
IBX Imagion Biosys Ltd 0.017 -15% 27,216,798 $23,353,316
TTT Titomic Limited 0.017 -15% 1,868,822 $6,279,799
GWR GWR Group Ltd 0.082 -15% 179,227 $30,836,799
HTG Harvest Tech Grp Ltd 0.036 -14% 887,870 $26,536,415
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LAST ORDERS

Cyclopharm (ASX:CYC): +4.19%

The medical equipment manufacturer and retailer is exuding a radiant, healthy glow today on news of record revenues.

That’s based on its anticipated preliminary (unaudited) financial performance for the half year to June 30. The mail is: a record operating revenue of $15.3 million, which is up 39% on the previous corresponding period.

CYC is a $200 million market cap Australian lung-imaging tech company servicing 64 countries and is now entering the final three months of USFDA approval for their technology – called Technegas. This approval would open up a potential $180 million market for the firm.

Some further highlights from the upcoming report:

  • The USFDA approval process is reportedly on track with an expected approval of September 29, 2023.
  • Technegas revenues remained steady on pcp, at approximately $7.6 million.
  • Third party sales have delivered “exceptionally strong growth”, up approximately 116% on 1H 2022, to approximately $7.7 million.
  • Net cash of $18.9 million at 30 June 2023 means the firm and tech is well positioned for a USA launch and beyond.

 

Bioxyne Limited (ASX:BXN), an Aussie health and wellness products company is, via the Breathe Life Sciences (BLS)-manufactured and trademarked “Dr Watson” range, extending its Amazon foray into the US and Japan.

Specifically, top of the flogging list is its Dr Watson mushroom nootropics products, designed to enhance cognitive function, focus and memory, as well as supporting energy levels. Apparently they’re a popular replacement for coffee, too. Bet they taste rubbish frothed up with oat milk, but.

As far as the mushroom invasion into Japan is concerned, Amazon sales there are apparently expected to achieve the company an annual revenue of $1 million in FY 2024.

 

Right, what else is going on then? For that, we suggest you check out Em’s arvo column: In Case You Missed It.

Oh, and then there’s this, too…

 

TRADING HALTS

Adavale Resources (ASX:ADD) – Capital raising.

Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) – Pending an announcement regarding closure of arbitration proceedings against the United Republic of Tanzania and receipt of the Tribunal’s award.

Xstate Resources (ASX:XST) – Pending an announcement regarding a material asset divestment by the company.

Sacgasco (ASX:SGC) – Pending announcement regarding a material asset divestment by the company.

OD6 Metals (ASX:OD6) – Pending an announcement of a maiden mineral resource estimate at the Splinter Rock Project.

Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN) – Pending an announcement regarding a material contract relating to the Lance Project.

Metal Bank (ASX:MBK) – Pending material announcement regarding an agreement for exploration.

Tennant Minerals (ASX:TMS) – A “pause in trading” is all we know on this one, as of 4.04pm.