Closing Bell: ASX dragged down by ex-divvy stocks as banks take lead; Gold's rally relentless

The ASX 200 lifted modestly by +0.2% on Thursday as gains in Tech and Industrial stocks were offset by losses in Energy.

Local traders brushed out dovish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell last night. Appearing before Congress, Powell reiterated the possibility of a rate cut some time this year.

“We expect inflation to come down, the economy to keep growing. If that’s the case, it will be appropriate for interest rates to come down significantly over the coming years,” he said.

To stocks, bank shares were mainly higher after a flurry of credit upgrades from Moody’s Investors Service.

Westpac (ASX:WBC), ANZ (ASX:ANZ), Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) and Bank of Queensland (ASX:BOQ) all got upgrades from Moody’s, while the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) hit its all-time highs.

A handful of mining heavyweights like BHP (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) dropped as they went ex-dividends today – see more below.

Bullion meanwhile shows no signs of easing, leaping further to trade at US$2,151.65 after hitting record highs last night.

Bitcoin, however, eased back a little, trading now at US$65,980, after trading at above US$67k for most of the session.

Good news from China

Finally, some hood news out of China.

The country reported that its exports have grown much faster than expected in the first two months of 2024.

According to data from Bloomberg, overseas shipments in USD terms rose 7.1% in the January-February period compared to the pcp.

Beijing is targeting economic growth of around 5% this year, a goal that’s been called ‘over ambitious’ and met with skepticism.

Stocks that went ex-dividends today include:

Auswide Bank (ASX:ABA) is paying 11 cents fully franked
Australian Financial Group (ASX:AFG) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ) is paying 1.6017 cents unfranked
AmberTech (ASX:AMO) is paying 1.2 cents fully franked
Atlas Pearls (ASX:ATP) is paying 1.5 cents 37.33% franked
Bapcor (ASX:BAP) is paying 9.5 cents fully franked
BHP (ASX:BHP) is paying 110.0244 cents fully franked
ClearView (ASX:CVW) is paying 1.5 cents fully franked
Freightways Group Lt (ASX:FRW) is paying 16.8397 cents unfranked
FSA Group (ASX:FSA) is paying 3.5 cents fully franked
G8 Education (ASX:GEM) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Globe International (ASX:GLB) is paying 9 cents fully franked
Global Traffic Network (ASX:GTN) is paying 1.1 cents unfranked
Helia Group (ASX:HLI) is paying 15 cents 33.33% franked
Helloworld Travel (ASX:HLO) is paying 5 cents fully franked
IDP Education (ASX:IEL) is paying 25 cents 77% franked
MAAS Group Holdings (ASX:MGH) is paying 3 cents fully franked
Michael Hill (ASX:MHJ) is paying 1.75 cents unfranked
McMillan Shakespeare Group (ASX:MMS) is paying 76 cents fully franked
Monash IVF Group (ASX:MVF) is paying 2.5 cents fully franked
NIB Holdings (ASX:NHF) is paying 15 cents fully franked
New Zealand Media and Entertainment (ASX:NZM) is paying 5.6407 cents unfranked
Platinum Asset Management (ASX:PTM) is paying 1.5 cents fully franked
Pinnacle Investment (ASX:PNI) is paying 15.6 cents fully franked
Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) is paying 1.25 cents unfranked
Qualitas (ASX:QAL) is paying 2.25 cents fully franked
Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) is paying 392.78 cents fully franked
South32 (ASX:S32) is paying 0.6188 cents fully franked
Schaffer Corporation (ASX:SFC) is paying 45 cents fully franked
Shine Justice (ASX:SHJ) is paying 1.5 cents unfranked
Sky Network Television (ASX:SKT) is paying 6.5951 cents unfranked
Universal Store Holdings (ASX:UNI) is paying 16.5 cents fully franked
Viva Energy (ASX:VEA) is paying 7.1 cents fully franked
Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) is paying 91.5053 cents fully franked

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
ABE	Ausbondexchange	3.50	150.00	419,865	1,577,354
IMC	Immuron Limited	12.50	89.39	32,235,550	15,034,691
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.45	50.00	1,872,904	2,153,967
CNJ	Conico Ltd	0.30	50.00	5,394,860	3,140,190
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.60	50.00	3,821,249	4,750,175
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.60	50.00	104,171,025	11,248,311
EMD	Emyria Limited	6.20	34.78	1,610,931	16,864,952
1AG	Alterra Limited	0.40	33.33	200,000	2,612,072
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.20	33.33	5,253,255	3,035,096
PEC	Perpetual Res Ltd	0.80	33.33	7,810,998	3,840,177
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.40	33.33	200,000	14,509,798
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	2.30	27.78	4,426,088	2,667,421
MMM	Marley Spoon Se	5.40	25.58	566,556	5,062,149
ICE	Icetana Limited	3.50	25.00	150,000	7,409,596
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.25	25.00	1,327,343	7,356,542
IEC	Intra Energy Corp	0.25	25.00	25,000	3,381,563
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.25	25.00	5,943,160	8,970,108
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.50	25.00	7,834,223	24,490,317
PGM	Platina Resources	2.10	23.53	2,274,157	10,594,066
TOU	Tlou Energy Ltd	4.20	23.53	197,973	36,602,248
FBM	Future Battery	6.70	21.82	530,455	29,356,579
BSX	Blackstone Ltd	6.90	21.05	1,093,321	29,877,754
PNX	PNX Metals Limited	0.60	20.00	1,031,513	26,903,124
PUR	Pursuit Minerals	0.60	20.00	1,843,499	14,719,857
SUH	Southern Hem Min	4.30	19.44	91,791	21,258,927

Immuron (ASX:IMC) jumped 80% after announcing interim topline results confirming the efficacy of Travelan in preventing diarrhea following a bout of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). The study on 60 patients show that a single daily dose of Travelan is 36.4% effective in the prevention of moderate to severe diarrhea induced by ETEC, when compared to the placebo group in the study. Around 66.7% protective efficacy against ETEC-induced severe diarrhea was also observed in the patients taking Travelan, compared to the placebo group (secondary endpoint).

Heavy Minerals (ASX:HVY) has signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with ABSS for the future sales of a minimum of 15,000 tonnes per annum of garnet to be produced at its Port Gregory Project for an initial three-year period. This offtake will account for approximately 10% of the Company’s annual future Garnet production at its Port Gregory Project and will be sold into the Australian and New Zealand sand blasting and water jet cutting markets by ABSS.

Widgie Nickel (ASX:WIN) says its Mt Edwards project has benefited from the Federal Government’s call to put nickel on the critical list, as that has propelled the project into feasible, standalone territory. Widgie says a fresh scoping study shows that it’s good for an 800ktpa standalone nickel concentrator producing 103,000tpa @ 10.1% Ni concentrate for 10,380 tonnes of contained nickel per year.

Marmota’s (ASX:MEU) review into the uranium prospectivity of its Junction Dam project has produced a new high priority exploration target immediately adjacent to Boss Energy’s (ASX:BOE) high-grade Jason’s satellite deposit to the Honeymoon yellowcake mine in South Australia.

Dotz Nano (ASX:DTZ) has completed the construction of a bench-scale unit, demonstrating the effectiveness of Dotz Earth technology. Dotz Earth features a proprietary nano-porous carbon sorbent with high-adsorption capacity and high-selectivity for capturing CO2. Data has demonstratds superior results compared with existing commercial sorbents, suggesting potential to drive down the cost of carbon capture.

Altamin (ASX:AZI) announced that it has signed a non-bindin MOU with IREN SpA, one of Italy’s largest multi-utility companies, for a potential collaboration for critical raw material production at the Lazio Geothermal Lithium Project. The MOU provides that the AZI and IREN agree to cooperate and work together in good faith to maximise the probability of success of critical raw material production of the Lazio Project.

Strike Resources (ASX:SRK)’s shareholders have approved the disposal of the company’s Paulsens East Iron Ore Project at a General Meeting held late yesterday. The purchase price was for $20.5 million, and will be paid by certain parties including Miracle Iron Holdings.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks

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Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.10	-50.00	5,756,278	11,649,361
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.10	-50.00	343,790	21,432,416
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.10	-33.33	3,334	18,306,384
8VI	8Vi Holdings Limited	4.00	-28.57	15,950	2,347,040
1MC	Morella Corporation	0.30	-25.00	804,807	24,715,198
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.30	-25.00	181,731	8,895,343
RFA	Rare Foods Australia	3.00	-21.05	37,200	7,788,074
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.40	-20.00	1,005,892	5,410,345
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.80	-20.00	50,000	4,187,558
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.40	-20.00	28	11,050,640
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.40	-20.00	169,470	8,755,539
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.40	-20.00	2,541,200	27,111,136
VAL	Valor Resources Ltd	0.20	-20.00	221,391	11,472,533
TGN	Tungsten Min NL	5.80	-17.14	53,796	55,048,999
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	1.50	-16.67	122,246	10,662,261
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.50	-16.67	23,622,614	150,744,375
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.50	-16.67	654,100	6,067,033
ECT	Env Clean Tech Ltd.	0.50	-16.67	8,720,137	17,185,862
ID8	Identitii Limited	1.00	-16.67	109,500	5,162,856
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	2.10	-16.00	167,655	8,813,313
JRV	Jervois Global Ltd	2.45	-15.52	19,456,347	78,373,100
DBO	Diabloresources	2.30	-14.81	178,501	2,782,929
OXT	Orexploretechnologie	2.30	-14.81	565,056	5,276,222
DRO	Droneshield Limited	59.50	-14.39	15,984,671	425,446,760
BCK	Brockman Mining Ltd	2.40	-14.29	30,000	259,846,500

Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) has received a $1.05 million refund from the ATO from “significant R&D expenditure” on metallurgical testwork and studies at its Mount Lindsay tin-tungsten project in Tasmania during the previous financial year.

Camplify (ASX:CHL) dropped after Tourism Holdings (ASX:THL) sold its 14.14% holding in CHL at $1.90 per share, for ~$19.2m.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT – PM Edition

With gold prices touching record highs, Magnetic Resources (ASX:MAU) picked the perfect time to unveil the PFS on its Lady Julie project near Laverton. Based on a conservative $2,800/oz gold price, the study forecast pre-tax IRR of 85% and NPV of $597 million, as well as EBITDA of $982 million and AISC of just $1,445/oz, for the proposed 1.8Mtpa standalone operation which requires a very manageable $93.4 million capex.

St George Mining (ASX:SGQ) has kicked off follow-up drilling at its high-grade Destiny rare earths discovery where it intersected +500ppm TREO in 42 out of the 61 holes drilled to date across a significant portion of the highly prospective Ida Fault.

New World Resources (ASX:NWC) has also begun drilling the Bullhorn target, a ‘lookalike’ to its 11.4Mt Antler copper deposit in Arizona.

The results are in for TG Metals (ASX:TG6) which has hit more high-grade lithium at the Burmeister prospect, part of its Lake Johnston project in WA, with the latest round of drilling delivering intersections such as 20m @ 1.38% Li2O from 120m, 20m @ 1.13% Li2O from 129m, 5m @ 1.61% Li2O from 56m and 2m @ 2.17% Li2O from 167m.

Future Battery Minerals (ASX:FBM) has increased the extent of the Lone Mountain mineralisation to +3km at its 80%-owned Nevada lithium project after receiving the latest batch of results from Phase 3 drilling.

And the first gold bars from the Selkirk JV have been poured at the nearby Gwalia process plant, with gold revenues to be split 50/50 between BML Ventures and Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR), which is putting its share of the proceeds towards exploration and development of the Menzies and Laverton projects.

TRADING HALTS

Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS) – response to media speculation.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Brightstar Resources, Future Battery Minerals, Magnetic Resources, Marmota, New World Resources, St George Mining and TG Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.