The bears are back and they have knives. Via Getty
Closing Bell: ASX axed in regional rout while mini-biotech Tissue Repair soars on TGA nod
News
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- ASX and regional markets are sharply lower after Wall St tech crunch
- All 11 local sectors hit, InfoTech smashed hardest on -2.7pc
- Tissue Repair leads small caps on happy TGA approval news
The benchmark has followed sharp falls across key commodities on Thursday with retreating oil, iron ore and copper prices weighing on local stocks already hit by mega tech losses on Wall Street overnight.
At match out on Thursday, the S&P/ASX200 had lost more than 100 points or 1.29% to end at 7,861.20.
Not fun on local markets. Nor around the region on Thursday after grim losses for US Mega tech overnight.
All 11 ASX sectors are lower. Our Tech sector’s not nearly as big as the Americans, but it led the losses.
More concerning is that through the day a string of major commodities sank with the growing realisation that China’s economy is going nowhere at an accelerating pace.
There’s a gnawing fear China’s central bank (PBoC) knows the trouble Beijing is in when it stepped in with a surprise cut to its one-year medium-term lending facility rate. Monetary stimulus is not fiscal stimulus, everyone thought.
The key lending rate was lowered by 20 basis points to 2.3%, the largest cut since April 2020.
Spot gold is at near three week lows. In Shanghai, copper gave up 2% to hit a four-month low hile zinc falls about 1.7 per cent.
Iron ore futures fell to $US99.30 a tonne in Singapore before rebounding above $100.
WTI crude oil futures have continued to drift.
All this speaks to the bad taste China’s Third Plenum last week left in everyone’s mouth not currently a Communist Party official.
The big policy meet failed to deliver the type of policy which commodities like.
Nor the Aussie dollar, which at $0.65, is in its 9th day of a straight retreat and is back where it was at the start of April.
Some very big major players played majorly bad out there in big benchmark field No. 1.
Usually reliable Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) hasn’t banked the best lately as per a group update. It’s lost 3.5%. (Shakes head).
Particularly terrible: Regis Resources (ASX:RRL) and Block Inc (ASX:SQ2), down about 9% and 6.5% a piece.
Down over 5.5% is Fortescue (ASX:FMG) which got a double smack for missing production guidance.
Seek (ASX:SEK) is lower after flagging a $141m impairment from it’s stake in Chinese job board Zhaopin.
Hang on.
Here’s the worst of the Top 100 ASX stocks today:
What a list of deplorable performances from Aussie’s best and brightest.
So.
All 11 sectors ended lower. The session’s top performer, Consumer Staples, was down by 0.6%. IT stocks were shorn of more than 2.6%.
ASX Sectors on Thursday
Little Caps
Wellnex Life (ASX:WNX) announced update on the proposed dual listing of Company on the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The Company has raised $2m in a placement involving UK based brokers and high net worth investors, via the issue of 73,781,290 FPO shares at $0.028 a pop.
Cue Janet Jackson: Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8) has updated on operations at its Paulsens Gold Operation. Exploration efforts continue to uncover promising high-grade gold intercepts, including notable results like 1.10 meters at 163.91 grams per tonne of gold and 1.84 meters at 75.55 grams per tonne of gold. These discoveries support ongoing mapping, sampling, and preparation of mining areas not covered in the recent study.
“The project holds multiple opportunities for further exploration, particularly in areas with developed high-grade veins that require additional drilling to establish resource estimates.”
Australian Potash (ASX:APC) (the best potash) has announced the expansion of its exploration footprint in the rather celebrated, prospective carbonatite niobium rich West Arunta – to over 660km – after APC agreed to acquire 100% of the FPO shares in the capital of Green Metals Group (GMG).
We’re also watching Alto Metals (ASX:AME) after it received approval for new mining leases covering the Bull Oak and Indomitable Camps at Sandstone.
“These camps contain significant mineral resources, with Indomitable hosting 210,000 ounces of gold and Bull Oak holding 65,000 ounces.”
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) says it’s significantly increased the silver content at the Kempfield Silver Deposit in Australia to 65.8 million ounces, up 54% from 42.8 million ounces. This makes Kempfield the second largest undeveloped silver deposit in Australia, apparently.
The deposit also holds 125,192 ounces of gold, 207,402 tonnes of lead, and 420,373 tonnes of zinc.
Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) has reported promising initial assay results from its Raptor REE Project, showing high grades of Total Rare Earth Oxides (TREO) exceeding 4,500 ppm in surface samples of outcropping saprolite.
Ongoing exploration efforts, including additional surface sampling and deeper auger drilling, are expected to further delineate the project’s mineralization.
NOT THE ASX
Around the hood, everyone’s wobbling. South Korea leads the equities sell-off following the big tech falls in New York, although shares have also fallen in Japan, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
In Mainland China it was sell the already massive dip x a lot, indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen added global market weakness to their inventory of issues, Thursday. Everyone’s getting antsy about Beijing’s economic woes after the central bank conducted a lending operation at lower rates.
Asian shares were hammered on Thursday as a slump in global tech stocks sent investors fleeing into less risky assets, including short-dated bonds, the yen and Swiss franc.
The only good news is possibly that in Europe the pharma giant Roche has upped its FY profit guidance on feisty drug sales through the year.
Overnight in New York, the Nasdaq crashed 3.64%. A shocker. The S&P500 also suffered its worst slip up since 2022, down 2.3%.
The Dow fell 1%, and the Russell 2000 lost 1.5%.
After feasting on Mega Tech, traders with high expectations at the start of a rotation just cut and run. Tesla dropped 12.3% and Alphabet 5%.
Elsewhere in the less-magnificent Nvidia down 5%, Meta lost 6%, and Microsoft did well, losing only 3.6%.
Also, Ford was down 11% on issues with its EVs. Bank of America upped dividends and flagged a buyback. Chipotle dropped better-than-expected numbers and green lit its own expansion plan. The stock was up 9% after hours.
US manufacturing PMIs were weaker-than-expected dipping into contraction territory.
At the close on Thursday US Futures were all higher:
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are today’s best performing ASX small cap stocks.
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap AHN Athena Resources 0.004 100.0 22,298,397 $2,140,935 TRP Tissue Repair 0.34 54.5 2,607,834 $13,302,265 APC Aust Potash Ltd 0.0015 50.0 472,617 $4,020,189 RMX Red Mount Min Ltd 0.0015 50.0 2,443,904 $3,423,577 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.002 33.3 10,517,303 $5,515,269 MRQ Mrg Metals Limited 0.004 33.3 1,429,468 $8,134,556 TMX Terrain Minerals 0.004 33.3 1,808,650 $4,295,012 ATX Amplia Therapeutics 0.081 30.6 2,478,751 $17,001,143 MEL Metgasco Ltd 0.005 25.0 100,000 $5,790,347 TAS Tasman Resources Ltd 0.005 25.0 26,500 $2,850,677 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.005 25.0 270,320 $16,634,713 SEN Senetas Corporation 0.016 23.1 11,945,339 $20,426,684 CLU Cluey Ltd 0.043 22.9 753,167 $7,056,475 DTZ Dotz Nano Ltd 0.145 20.8 297,744 $62,851,453 NRZ Neurizer Ltd 0.006 20.0 10,651,080 $9,512,153 AAU Antilles Gold Ltd 0.0035 16.7 1,285,000 $4,384,283 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.007 16.7 166,830 $2,137,307 ODE Odessa Minerals Ltd 0.0035 16.7 1,138,319 $3,129,848 OLI Oliver'S Real Food 0.014 16.7 10,086 $5,288,783 RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp. 0.0035 16.7 250,000 $1,858,622
The afternoon and the day belonged to Tissue Repair (ASX:TRP) – with a great big new approval from the local TGA (Therapuetic Goods Admin).
As you’ll recall from last episode, TRP is an advanced Aussie biotech developing 2nd generation wound healing agents. Hmm.
“(TRP) has secured a TGA approval for TR Pro+TM the Company’s first advanced wound healing gel product containing the proprietary active ingredient, Glucoprime® (0.1%), derived from yeast.”
Yeast is a healer, as beer has proven.
The TGA listing will help Tissue Repair and its approved yeast in 10g and 50g tubes and 3g sachets, to promote the co’s scientific and clinical data more broadly.
“Importantly securing general claims around skin healing, repair and regeneration will allow the Company to significantly expand the indications that it can market the product for including acute wounds, and a broad range of derm conditions.
Despite not yet being TGA’d TR Pro+TM sales in June hit a new high with Q3 revenue showing 130% growth over the prior quarter and expanding to over 160 clinics.
The short-term focus now turns to growing distribution.
Athena Resources (ASX:AHN) has done very well after appointing a new non-executive chair in the formidable shape of ex-Wallaby hard man and resources guru John Welborn.
Garry Plowright as Non-Executive Director of Athena Resources with immediate effect. Mr Ed Edwards and Mr Hau Wan Wai have today resigned as Directors of the Company. Mr Peter Newcomb and Mr Terry Weston remain on the Board of Athena.
The appointments follow the approval by shareholders of a $1 million Convertible Notes issue to Fenix Resources (ASX:FEX) where Welborn has traction.
Should the notes get converted then Athena’s stake in AHN will top 30%.
Why? Athena wants to “leverage Fenix’s capabilities and experience to advance the Byro Magnetite Project and drive value for shareholders.”
Fenix does boast a track record of unlocking value from stranded WA resource projects in the spot where Athena’s Byro Magnetite Project is located.
Fenix also owns Newhaul, a transport logistics business with state-of-the-art road haulage logistics business, rail sidings, and extensive on-wharf storage and loading infrastructure at Geraldton Port.
Amplia (ASX:ATX) this arvo revealed that three patients enrolled in the Company’s Phase 2a clinical trial investigating narmafotinib in the treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer have recorded a “confirmed partial response.”
In short: ‘confirmed partial response’ means there’s at least a 30% decrease in the overall size of tumour lesions, and no new tumour lesions, in these patients sustained over a two month period.
Not a big study, but we’ll take it, and traders have.
As you would, given the opportunity: Pure Resources (ASX:PR1) is acquiring a garnet project called Reedy Creek in the WA Kimberley region.
The landholding reportedly has a stock of andradite garnet and the explorer is looking to assess its potential near-term development.
Garnet, Cameron Drummond?
“Garnet is probably what your nan wore in the 60s, handed down to her in jewellery from her parents or a marvellous up-and-coming Australian cricketer.”
Though in all seriousness, Cam says the vast majority of garnet is used as an abrasive blasting material, for water filtration, in a process called water jet cutting, and to make abrasive powders.
PR1 is going to conduct studies on the abundant outcropping hazard-rock garnet at Reedy Creek to monetise the mining of the material, scarce enough that Pure thinks a focus on supplying high-margin end products will pay dividends.
Cluey (ASX:CLU) is raising capital and expecting to hit profitability in CY2026, in a welcome update from the Aussie edutech with global aspitrations
CLU on Thursday said its re-scaling ‘to achieve expected profitability is complete,’ after the implementation of a bunch of cost saving initiatives resulting ‘in a significant improvement in Group Cash Burn.’
“Subject to achieving ongoing operating improvements, the Company expects to break-even during H2 FY25 and to be profitable thereafter.”
The bottom line looks tight – in Q4 Customer Acquisition costs (CAC) were cleft in twain to $115 vs $254 for Q423, taking CAC to its
lowest level since inception
Student numbers are on the rise too.
“Given the significant improvement in key operating metrics, the company is now well-positioned to grow student numbers and revenues at a sustainable pace. This shift to growth has commenced, with forward booked student sessions in the Cluey Learning division increasing MoM in Q4 FY24, with further increases in the forward order book during July.
Finally, CLU says it is looking to raise $4.5m to fund working capital and rollout of growth initiatives via a fully underwritten 3 for 4 non-renounceable entitlement offer of new Cluey shares at an offer price of $0.03 per new share, representing a 15.25% discount on the 30-day volume weighted average price (WAP) of Cluey shares, including ~$1.65m firm in relief and sub-underwrite from management and founders
Having jumped on Wednesday, Alcidion Group (ASX:ALC) has added more to the kitty this afternoon on the earlier news it’d been chosen as the preferred supplier for North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) NHS Foundation Trust’s new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system.
This selection marks a significant milestone in Alcidion’s relationship with NCIC, expanding upon its existing collaboration where Alcidion’s Patient Administration System (Silverlink PCS) has been instrumental in meeting operational needs.
In the north of the England, NCIC serves approximately half a million people across multiple hospitals and community health facilities. The Trust is an integral part of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System, collaborating closely with primary care networks and support services.
Alcidion Group MD Kate Quirke says Alcidion’s solution will enable NCIC to expand its digital capabilities while safeguarding current investments.
“At a time when the healthcare system is under enormous pressure, we see this increased speed to deliver value as a real opportunity for our customers,” said Quirke.
Picking up where it left Tuesday is Delorean (ASX:DEL) – a vertically integrated bio-energy focused operator of both renewable energy and waste management.
The company lifted FY24 earnings guidance, saying its strong results are largely thanks to high performing project delivery across the group.
A refresher:
• EBITDA of between $4.5m and $5.1mn
• Revenue for the year of between $27m and $28mn
• A record NPAT for the full year
• Cash at Bank as at 30 June 2024 of $8.8m
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Here are the day’s least performing ASX small cap stocks.
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap VPR Voltgroupltd 0.001 -50.0 1,790,685 $21,432,416 88E 88 Energy Ltd 0.002 -33.3 5,433,776 $86,678,016 M2R Miramar 0.007 -30.0 38,690,482 $1,973,898 AGY Argosy Minerals Ltd 0.035 -28.6 38,499,884 $71,340,126 VHM Vhmlimited 0.43 -25.9 260,062 $89,436,161 DOU Douugh Limited 0.003 -25.0 6,000 $4,328,276 HCT Holista CollTech Ltd 0.007 -22.2 2,916 $2,509,201 IR1 Irismetals 0.195 -22.0 470,494 $33,758,746 QML Qmines Limited 0.04 -21.6 813,398 $11,495,044 NUC Nuchev Limited 0.16 -20.0 20,000 $29,267,861 EFE Eastern Resources 0.004 -20.0 600,000 $6,209,732 EWC Energy World Corpor. 0.008 -20.0 710,533 $30,789,212 LPD Lepidico Ltd 0.002 -20.0 3,513,367 $21,472,812 ROG Red Sky Energy. 0.004 -20.0 1,554,802 $27,111,136 SIH Sihayo Gold Limited 0.002 -20.0 250,000 $30,510,640 SIS Simble Solutions 0.004 -20.0 1,256,103 $3,767,254 CSX Cleanspace Holdings 0.38 -19.1 28,554 $36,367,891 ASO Aston Minerals Ltd 0.009 -18.2 2,141,245 $14,245,707 CR9 Corellares 0.009 -18.2 30,000 $5,116,017 PIL Peppermint Inv Ltd 0.009 -18.2 25,672,878 $23,334,942
Trading Halts
Adisyn (ASX:AI1) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a proposed capital raise.
Globe Metals & Mining (ASX:GBE) – an announcement in relation to the outcome of a proposed capital raising.
Canterbury Resources (ASX:CBY) – pending an announcement regarding a proposed capital raising.
Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ) – pending an announcement concerning a strategic investment and capital raising.
Infini Resources (ASX:I88) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raising.
Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) – pending an announcement in relation to a proposed capital raise.
PolarX (ASX:PXX) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raising.
Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) – pending an announcement by the Company regarding a material capital raising.
Kalgoorlie Gold Mining (ASX:KAL) – pending the release of a Mineral Resource Estimate, and a capital raising.
ICYMI – PM Edition
Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) increased its silver ounces at the Kempfield deposit from 42.8Moz to 65.8Moz, reflecting a 23Moz jump and positioning the asset as Australia’s second largest silver project.
ADX Energy (ASX:ADX) is about to begin drilling the Anshof-2A oil appraisal well in early September as well as conduct new gas exploration drilling in the ADX-AT-I licence in October.
Althea Group’s (ASX:AGH) US subsidiary has entered into a key joint venture to target the legal US cannabis-infused beverages market, which is currently valued at nearly US$967m and expected to soar to US$19b by 2028.
Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) has reported up 4,552ppm total rare earth oxides (TREO) at the Raptor project in Brazil, positioning it as one of the best Caldeira-style ionic clay hosted assets globally.
Blue Star Helium’s (ASX:BNL) says that its Sammons 315310C well has been drilled, tested and proven, and is currently suspended for tie-in to the production facility.
White Cliff Minerals (ASX:WCN) has discovered widespread calcite-dominant veins at its expanded Rae project, with maiden fieldwork demonstrating outcropping copper-infused minerals stretching up to 440m a piece across a number of targets.
Taiton Resources (ASX:T88) has kicked off a gravity survey at its Highway project in South Australia across targets for potential iron-oxide-copper-gold style mineralisation.
Rio Tinto-backed Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM) has finished a dry mining trial at its world-class Kasiya deposit in Malawi.
Scorpion Minerals (ASX:SCN) has uncovered specimen gold with vein quartz as well as visible gold at the Olivers Patch prospect in WA.
Elevate Uranium (ASX:EL8) is pushing forward with exploration and resource expansion drilling in Namibia with five rigs operating across Koppies, Hirabeb and Capri.
Latin Resources (ASX:LRS) has hit up to ~2.5% Li2O at the Planalto lithium discovery in Brazil, which is showing similar characteristics to its tier one Colina deposit.
Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) has flagged an enrichment of stockpiled material from 3.7 g/t to 16.22 g/t gold grade during ore sorting test work at the Reward gold mine.
Wisr (ASX:WZR) has posted a 7% increase in loan originations in Q4 FY24 compared to the prior quarter as it continues its path to profitability, while also helping Aussies bust debt.
At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Argent Minerals, ADX Energy, Althea Group, Perpetual Resources, Blue Star Helium, White Cliff Minerals, Taiton Resources, Sovereign Metals, Scorpion Minerals, Elevate Uranium, Latin Resources, Vertex Minerals and Wisr are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
