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Closing Bell: ASX ends flat despite improvised arvo bargain hunt
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- ASX ends awfully flat
- Materials rise, banks OK but the rest pretty bad
- Small caps led by biotech HEX
Local markets, look pretty shaken and stirred after a day of largely unsteady, acutely directionless and ultimately volatile business.
The S&P/ASX200 closed down just 7.40 points Wednesday to 7,963.70.
The local market managed to pare back some fearful looking losses after lunch in Sydney as copper futures dipped an exciting new four month low.
Yet, saving the meal ticket in arvo trade were the previously weakened mining stocks which rose above the din to avoid more trader angst, disgrace and gnashing of teeth.
There was in truth the welcome odour of opportunity after several consecutive sectoral lashings for the diggers following no news out of biggest Aussie rocks and crops customer, China and generally contracting commodity prices.
In the end the Men of Materials flexed some muscle, rallying by 0.4%.
And sorta coming good for once was lithium digger Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) which at once stage rallied more than 5% after rocking a near 60% quarterly jump in revenue, but then retraced to even stevens with some bad numbers for Elon Musk’s Tesla potentially rocking the EV metals sector.
Local fundie Perpetual (ASX:PPT) is down following an unhappy quarter where assets under management withered by $12.4bn. CEO Rob Adams blamed the market. It didn’t do what they expected.
Energy stocks were hit by further falls in the oil price fell – a fourth straight session the crude oil benchmark’s longest losing streak since June
Elsewhere among the big movers, Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) were down early.
Worst of the majors was Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) down about 7%, following its $650m convertible bond issue with a conversion premium 30-35% above the reference share price.
Bad luck, because Telix also got some good news today from the US Food and Drug Administration, which it says accepted both a new drug application filing for TLX007-CDx, a new and proprietary cold kit for the preparation of PSMA-PET imaging for prostate cancer.
Only three of the 11 ASX sectors are higher and 8 are lower.
ASX Sectors on Wednesday at the close
Not the ASX
Well.
US Futures look terrible at 4pm in Sydney.
Overnight, the S&P 500 lost down 0.15%. The Dow was marginally better, short 57 points, or 0.14%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index was flat.
In US small cap land, the Russell 2000 is still schooling them all – another best on field performance rising 1%.
The marked fall follows a real souring of sentiment after Tesla and Google dropped middling earnings after market in the states.
Fears grow that the Magnificent Seven may be ebbing this earnings season.
Chinese mainland stocks are at a five-month low in mid-arvo trade. And there are some deep lows among those five months.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng is at a near three month low.
At lunch in Tokyo, the JP225 hit a four week low of 39190.00.
Equities in India fell 230 points or 0.3% to 80,208 in volatile trading on Wednesday early deals, falling for the 4th straight session.
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 | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HXL | Hexima | 0.020 | 67% | 23,463,630 | $2,004,476 |
| FIN | FIN Resources Ltd | 0.009 | 50% | 2,290,914 | $3,895,612 |
| AOA | Ausmon Resorces | 0.003 | 50% | 51,667 | $2,117,999 |
| TKL | Traka Resources | 0.002 | 50% | 500,000 | $1,945,659 |
| ODE | Odessa Minerals Ltd | 0.004 | 40% | 2,775,569 | $2,608,206 |
| IBG | Ironbark Zinc Ltd | 0.004 | 33% | 364,284 | $5,077,718 |
| MEG | Megado Minerals Ltd | 0.012 | 33% | 300,000 | $2,290,100 |
| AEV | Avenira Limited | 0.009 | 29% | 12,677,124 | $16,443,238 |
| FTL | Firetail Resources | 0.077 | 28% | 476,716 | $12,138,829 |
| PGD | Peregrine Gold | 0.185 | 28% | 35,737 | $9,842,371 |
| ATH | Alterity Therap Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 16,397,842 | $21,281,344 |
| CAV | Carnavale Resources | 0.005 | 25% | 3,900,000 | $13,694,207 |
| ESR | Estrella Res Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 2,148,204 | $7,037,487 |
| LPD | Lepidico Ltd | 0.003 | 25% | 2,167,000 | $17,178,250 |
| NRZ | Neurizer Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 1,557,898 | $7,609,723 |
| WGN | Wagners Hld Company | 0.900 | 23% | 389,476 | $136,961,625 |
| ALC | Alcidion Group Ltd | 0.067 | 22% | 13,333,318 | $73,836,027 |
| BNL | Blue Star Helium Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 796,082 | $9,724,426 |
| TYX | Tyranna Res Ltd | 0.006 | 20% | 190,014 | $16,439,627 |
| FBR | FBR Ltd | 0.047 | 18% | 10,380,798 | $178,477,999 |
| CLU | Cluey Ltd | 0.035 | 17% | 280,223 | $6,048,407 |
| GMN | Gold Mountain Ltd | 0.004 | 17% | 777,362 | $9,533,230 |
| SP8 | Streamplay Studio | 0.007 | 17% | 1,966,517 | $6,903,743 |
| GLL | Galilee Energy Ltd | 0.023 | 15% | 899,823 | $6,794,893 |
| ALY | Alchemy Resource Ltd | 0.008 | 14% | 1,484,021 | $8,246,534 |
Not a lot of mid arvo movement for the major moving ASX small caps on Wednesday, with biotech Hexima (ASX:HXL), sucking up most of the glory.
HXL says it’s signed a binding but conditional deal to acquire 100% of RealThing Entertainment Pty Ltd.
The biotech rose about 58% and plans to raise about $4 million to further its plans for world domina… actually to acquire an ai voice command company called RealThing Entertainment. No word yet on what role Russell Morris and Molly Meldrum have played here.
Meanwhile, RealThing sounds pretty confusing/exciting!
In the words of HXL:
RealThing is commercialising its Autonomous Intelligent Software Agent Platform (AiSAP) based on the Belief, Desire, Intention (BDI) model of human practical reasoning.
RealThing is building a new paradigm in user device interaction. Instead of asking questions, the user asks for an outcome communicating in natural language. Intelligent agents deliver that outcome in a changing and dynamic environment – it’s a personal assistant with human intelligence.
RealThing’s Autonomous Intelligent Agents take advantage of advancements in generative AI (such as chatGPT), combined with the logical reasoning capabilities of BDI agents that are connected to the real world to drive real actions.
– Hexima, ASX release
Coming out of a trading halt this morning, Peak Rare Earths (ASX:PEK) has been further backed by US$2bn market-capped Chinese REE major Shenghe for a cool $96m, signing a non-binding term sheet for a 50% interest in the company’s stake in the Ngualla project in Tanzania.
Peak previously held an 84% stake, with the rest held under the African nation’s mining laws by a free-carried Tanzanian Government.
Meanwhile, Galilee Energy (ASX:GLL) is still gaining handsomely on a June quarterly update. Something good is in that note…
If rising shares tell a story then Alcidion (ASX:ALC) is fairly pleased to have been selected as the preferred EPR supplier by North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust (NCIC) for its new Electronic Patient Record (EPR) system.
North Cumbria as many of you don’t know is located in the north of the UK and forms part of the North East and North Cumbria (NENC) Integrated Care System (ICS).
“They provide hospital and community health care for approximately half a million people across two acute care hospitals, eight community-based hospitals, eight Integrated Care Communities (ICC) and a number of support staff locations over a large geographical footprint, working collaboratively with primary care networks, including 39 General Practices and an out of hours GP service.”
So that’s a lot of patient records which need digitisation.
ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS
Here are the least performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Name | Price | % Change | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AGY | Argosy Minerals Ltd | 0.050 | -38% | 48,513,262 | $117,929,596 |
| OAR | OAR Resources Ltd | 0.002 | -25% | 584,001 | $6,444,200 |
| NMR | Native Mineral Res | 0.021 | -25% | 332,391 | $5,875,814 |
| SRJ | SRJ Technologies | 0.075 | -22% | 399,893 | $15,292,266 |
| EMT | Emetals Limited | 0.004 | -20% | 664,681 | $4,250,000 |
| POS | Poseidon Nick Ltd | 0.004 | -20% | 218,116 | $18,567,674 |
| FTZ | Fertoz Ltd | 0.030 | -19% | 25,902 | $9,259,208 |
| PLC | Premier1 Lithium Ltd | 0.013 | -19% | 268,165 | $2,793,186 |
| CF1 | Complii Fintech Ltd | 0.023 | -18% | 515,632 | $15,901,774 |
| AON | Apollo Minerals Ltd | 0.015 | -17% | 1,694,771 | $12,534,172 |
| AML | Aeon Metals Ltd. | 0.005 | -17% | 400,000 | $6,578,404 |
| BCT | Bluechiip Limited | 0.005 | -17% | 288,340 | $7,092,237 |
| BLU | Blue Energy Limited | 0.010 | -17% | 90,614 | $22,211,683 |
| EVR | Ev Resources Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 1,098,747 | $8,227,629 |
| GCM | Green Critical Min | 0.003 | -17% | 265,836 | $4,159,755 |
| HLX | Helix Resources | 0.003 | -17% | 1,692,072 | $9,792,581 |
| MCT | Metalicity Limited | 0.003 | -17% | 350,555 | $13,457,558 |
| PRX | Prodigy Gold NL | 0.003 | -17% | 4,246,744 | $6,353,323 |
| FGL | Frugl Group Limited | 0.042 | -16% | 101,449 | $5,245,431 |
| KRR | King River Resources | 0.011 | -15% | 161,678 | $19,866,870 |
| GSN | Great Southern | 0.017 | -15% | 25,000 | $16,911,674 |
| ECT | Env Clean Tech Ltd. | 0.003 | -14% | 505 | $11,101,336 |
| FHS | Freehill Mining Ltd. | 0.006 | -14% | 755,527 | $20,998,911 |
| NAE | New Age Exploration | 0.003 | -14% | 162,500 | $6,278,646 |
ICYMI – PM Edition
Drilling at American West Metals’ (ASX:AW1) Storm copper project in Canada has extended the known strike of the high-grade Thunder zone to over 300m. Thick intervals of visual copper sulphides have also been observed at the Cyclone deposit.
C29 Metals (ASX:C29) has lodged two new licence applications covering ~18km of prospective strike near the Ulytau uranium project in Kazakhstan. It has a non-JORC foreign estimate of 9.85M/lbs Uranium at 2790ppm.
Everest Metals’ (ASX:EMC) Phase 1 extraction test works have returned a maximum ~85% rubidium recovery at Mt Edon. A maiden resource at the project is on track for release in August.
EZZ Life Science (ASX:EZZ) has boosted cash receipts from customers 70.3% year on year in the fourth quarter, with growth primarily attributable to sales on China’s TikTok equivalent Douyin. Operating cash flows are up 120.3% on the previous quarter to $4.5 million.
Frontier Energy (ASX:FHE) has mandated Mike Cannon-Brookes backed Infradebt to secure $215m in debt financing for Stage One of its Waroona renewable energy project in WA.
GTI Energy (ASX:GTR) is looking to raise up to $2.3m through a partially underwritten entitlement offer of one new share priced at 0.45c each for every five existing shares held.
This will include one free attaching option exercisable at 1c and expiring four years from the date of issue for every three new shares subscribed for.
The entitlement offer will be partially underwritten to a total of $1.6m by CPS Capital Group, ensuring that the company will raise at least that amount.
Proceeds will be used to fund the exploration and development of the company’s uranium projects in Wyoming and Utah.
HyTerra (ASX:HYT) has selected veteran contractor Murfin Drilling Company to drill hydrogen, helium wells at its Nemaha project in Kansas. Operations are expected to start on or before September 16.
iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM) has spotted over 60kms of outcropping pegmatites at its Reynolds Range project in the NT and plans to carry out further field work to test for copper-gold and lithium mineralisation.
Legacy Minerals (ASX:LGM) has started diamond drilling for magmatic-related PGE-nickel-copper mineralisation at its Fontenoy project in NSW under an exploration alliance with Earth AI.
LTP Pharma (ASX:LTP) has raised $10.5m through a share placement to sophisticated and new institutional investors to advance regulatory pathways for its novel erectile dysfunction (ED) nasal spray SPONTAN.
Regenerative medicine company Orthocell (ASX:OCC) is accelerating market expansion of its market-leading Striate+ and Remplir products with seven regulatory applications either in progress or planned for these platform devices.
Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) has acquired the Isabella project in Brazil’s growing Lithium Valley region in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and has already sampled rock chips with up to 5.62% Li2O.
Secos Group (ASX:SES) has voiced its opposition to the draft Victorian Household Waste and Recycling Service Standard 2024, saying the classification of compostable caddy bin liners used widely by Australian councils as unacceptable materials contradicted Australia’s broader environmental goals and the draft standard’s objective to reduce landfill waste.
Spartan Resources (ASX:SPR) has upgraded resources at its Dalgaranga project within 2km of its existing 2.5Mtpa processing plant by 47% to 16.1Mt at 4.79g/t gold, or 2.48Moz contained gold.
Sprintex (ASX:SIX) has successful integrated its key Programmable Logic Controller in a milestone which MD Jay Upton says will expand the company’s global market reach and broaden the tech’s applications.
Trinex Minerals’ (ASX:TX3) VTEM survey over its Gibbons Creek uranium project has identified multiple conductors at the Airstrip prospect. This survey focused on areas of known and interpreted meta-sediments, where historical EM surveys identified zones of high conductivity.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While American West Metals, C29 Metals, Everest Metals, EZZ Life Science, Frontier Energy, GTI Energy, HyTerra, iTech Metals, Legacy Minerals, LTP Pharma, Secos Group, Spartan Resources, Sprintex and Trinex Minerals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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