CLOSING BELL: ASX closes higher with Tech stocks leading the way

ASX closes up ~1%, while XEC rises 1.21% following global markets higher
Rabobank expects the RBA to raise rates by 0.25% at its April meetig
Alice Queen gets funding boost from Queensland Government for Horn Island exploration

The positive lead from the overnight US and European equity markets helped lift the Australian share market, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing ~1% higher to 7,113.90 points.

The S&P/ASX Emerging Companies index (XEC) – a benchmark for Australia’s micro-cap companies – was up 1.21%.

All sectors were in the green except real estate, which fell 0.25%. Leading the sectors was IT up 1.59%, followed by financials up 1.29% and materials which rose 1.28%.

Meanwhile, predictions are starting to come in as to what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will do with interest rates when it meets for its April meeting next Tuesday after the Aussie inflation rate for February was lower than expected, with a rate of 6.8% compared to the forecasted 7.2%.

Rabobank’s global economic and market research department said it remains their view that the RBA will hike rates by a further 0.25% or 25bps in April to take the cash rate to 3.85% ahead of a possible pause in May.

“The quarterly inflation data released on April 26th will be decisive for informing the actions of the central bank at the May board meeting,” senior strategist Raboresearch global economics and markets Ben Picton said.

“In the meantime, the softer headline inflation print for the month of February will not be sufficient for the RBA to abandon their tightening bias as labour market indicators, forward indicators and the still comparatively high level of inflation all point to the need for further tightening.”

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
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.002	100%	7,500	$4,077,102
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.002	100%	100,000	$6,102,128
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.0015	50%	1,880,000	$2,530,288
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0015	50%	10,686,434	$15,642,574
CLZ	Classic Min Ltd	0.0015	50%	9,294,146	$2,437,440
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.0015	50%	1,324,527	$2,424,609
BEZ	Besra Gold	0.145	45%	10,788,324	$35,386,189
PYR	Payright Limited	0.021	40%	51,283	$8,433,648
ADR	Adherium Ltd	0.004	33%	150,192	$14,989,315
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.004	33%	300,000	$1,857,747
RFX	Redflow Limited	0.295	31%	674,640	$40,436,856
IXU	Ixup Limited	0.035	30%	271,373	$27,958,302
GRV	Greenvale Energy Ltd	0.12	25%	983,859	$40,893,768
KED	Keypath Education	0.85	25%	3,930	$145,300,851
TZN	Terramin Australia	0.021	24%	1,001,153	$35,981,566
ARR	American Rare Earths	0.255	21%	12,513,082	$93,739,968
LVT	Livetiles Limited	0.0255	21%	1,296,604	$21,990,480
REE	Rarex Limited	0.057	21%	13,768,122	$27,231,169
AFW	Applyflow Limited	0.018	20%	125,389	$2,218,210
PVT	Pivotal Metals Ltd	0.036	20%	1,511,201	$14,234,313
EFE	Eastern Resources	0.012	20%	6,914,991	$12,419,465
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.012	20%	2,354,083	$15,151,958
NZS	New Zealand Coastal	0.003	20%	2,810,125	$4,135,025
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.006	20%	500,000	$5,398,731
NHE	Noble heliuml	0.255	19%	865,447	$26,526,582

Among the winners today was advanced gold and copper explorer Alice Queen (ASX:AQX) which announced the Queensland Government had approved the maximum $250,000 amount under the Queensland, Collaborative Exploration Initiative (CEI) for Critical Minerals.

The grant was for the AQX’s Horn Island Project, in the Torres Strait. AQX said the emerging copper zone (critical mineral) at Horn Island warrants further targeted drilling to test for strengthening copper at depth.

The company said the funding will be allocated to direct costs associated with drilling and geochemical analysis at Horn Island.

Also on the winners list was oil and gas explorer and producer Prominence Energy (ASX:PRM) which came out of a trading halt and announced it’s the high bidder on two blocks in the USA Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Federal Bid Round 259.

PRM submitted bids for two adjacent lease blocks located on the OCS off Texas in ~75m (250ft) of water. Together they cover an area of 11,520 acres (~46km2).

PRM bid on the basis of mapping and AVO analysis of seismic in the blocks, which it said identified a high potential and sizeable gas prospect.

The AVO analysis shows two sands with Class III AVO anomalies (a strong indication of a gas filled sand).

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
SCU	Stemcell United Ltd	0.005	-62%	51,443,151	$16,916,037
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.002	-33%	23,800,010	$17,474,042
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.002	-33%	897,144	$10,513,618
TYM	Tymlez Group	0.008	-33%	17,590,735	$13,106,344
MRR	Minrex Resources Ltd	0.016	-30%	30,440,104	$24,951,953
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.016	-27%	29,171,361	$43,935,032
OLI	Oliver'S Real Food	0.025	-26%	629,111	$14,984,885
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.003	-25%	808,799	$12,918,985
RMX	Red Mount Min Ltd	0.003	-25%	345,012	$9,087,404
SRJ	SRJ Technologies	0.062	-23%	24,000	$7,570,814
DM1	Desert Metals	0.11	-21%	134,090	$10,155,751
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.004	-20%	9,246	$14,168,295
M2M	Mt Malcolm Mines	0.038	-19%	158,078	$2,926,972
RCR	Rincon	0.06	-19%	160,329	$5,011,698
MME	Moneyme Limited	0.086	-18%	5,643,738	$29,740,959
M24	Mamba Exploration	0.115	-18%	1,493,157	$8,537,667
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.02	-17%	392,787	$5,097,689
XST	Xstate Resources	0.01	-17%	679,728	$3,858,230
MOH	Moho Resources	0.016	-16%	472,104	$3,945,582
MVL	Marvel Gold Limited	0.016	-16%	5,494	$13,396,793
SIO	Simonds Grp Ltd	0.09	-14%	109,126	$37,790,177
AD1	AD1 Holdings Limited	0.006	-14%	175,677	$4,905,119
C1X	Cosmos Exploration	0.33	-14%	827,557	$15,005,375
CPT	Cipherpoint Limited	0.006	-14%	805,333	$8,005,717
GNM	Great Northern	0.003	-14%	200,000	$5,981,678

LAST ORDERS

WRKR (ASX:WRK) has announced acting interim CEO Trent Lund has been appointed to the top job permanently. Lund has been acting as interim CEO of Wrkr, since April 2021 and has been a director of Wrkr since January 2021.

Wrkr is a RegTech company assisting workers, employers, members, and their superannuation funds in meeting their regulatory compliance across the hire to retire lifecycle.

The play for HR-services provider intelliHR Limited (ASX: IHR) continues with the company announcing its independent board committee (IBC) considers the Humanforce 22 cent/share bid to be a superior proposal to British software group TAG.

IHR announced yesterday it had entered into Transaction Implementation Deed with Access Workspaces Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of TAG.

Today IHR said after yesterday’s announcement, Humanforce’s broker for its on-market takeover offer released an announcement revising Humanforce’s on-market takeover bid announced on March 17, 2023, from 19.5 cents to 22 cents/share.

IHR said in context of the Humanforce 22 cent bid being a cash offer immediately available to shareholders, the IBC considers it to be a superior proposal to the TAG offer announced yesterday.

IHR’s Transaction Implementation Deed with TAG contains a matching right procedure, which the company is invoking.

Contact Energy (ASX:CEN) has has set the interest rate for its offer of 6-year fixed rate, unsecured, unsubordinated green bonds.

CEN said the interest rate for the Green Bonds has been set at 5.62% p.a, reflecting an issue margin of 1.35% p.a plus the base rate.

The Green Bonds will be issued on April 6, 2023 and will mature on April 6, 2029. The bonds will be quoted on the NZX Debt Market under the ticker code CEN080 on April11, 2023.