Closing Bell: ASX finishes up 0.20% and labour market data gives retired seniors a disturbing nickname

ASX 200 up for the fourth consecutive day today
Small cap index falls 0.44% and 9 out 11 sectors finish higher
Labour market data wants seniors out of the workforce to jump back in

The ASX200 was up 0.20% today, finishing on a high for the fourth consecutive day, but the ASX Emerging Companies (XEC) index was 0.37% lower.

A total of 9 out of 11 underlying sectors were in the green, with Utilities the strongest sector, rallying by 1.20%. Meridian Energy (ASX:MEZ) jumped 3.73%, Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) was up 0.51%, and Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY) rose a tidy 4.42%.

Materials (mining) was the biggest loser, with Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) taking a 6.49% and 4.37% hit respectively.

Regional labour market data was released today and in October 2022, the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven was recorded as having a jobless rate of zero.

Nineteen of 87 regions (SA4 regions) have unemployment rates of 2% or below.

The good news is that the number of people not in the labour force – which has the disturbing acronym ‘NILF’ – has fallen to 7.15 million since peaking at 7.75 million in May 2020.

The biggest proportion of NILFs are senior Australians, CBA chief economist Craig James says.

Those seniors are probably pretty happy to not be working after a lifetime of, well, working, and they’re probably thrilled with the nickname NILFs.

“The job market is super-tight and the risk is that wage pressures may build from here,” James said.

“At present the Reserve Bank is not concerned about the lift in annual wage growth to around 3%.

“The thinking is that 3.5% wage growth and 1% growth in productivity is consistent with 2-3% inflation.

“But structurally the job market has tightened – baby boomers are not being replaced in the same numbers by other demographic groups.

“That means businesses need to get used to 3-4% jobless rates.”

James says is if more of our senior Australians could be tempted back into work, some wage and job market pressures could be eased.

In October 2022, a record 39.6% of NILFs were those aged 65 and over who were permanently not intending to work because they’re running out of runway and would rather spend their dotage pottering around the garden and spending their kids’ inheritance.

“Changes to tax, pension and superannuation laws could encourage older Australians back into the paid workforce,” James reckons.

Good luck with that.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
MEB	Medibio Limited	0.0015	50%	717,479	$3,320,594
HAW	Hawthorn Resources	0.14	40%	634,239	$33,351,561
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.004	33%	2,513,782	$2,314,341
MGG	Mogul Games Grp Ltd	0.002	33%	262,438	$4,895,162
TSC	Twenty Seven Co. Ltd	0.002	33%	20,000	$7,982,442
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.0065	30%	5,109,061	$11,055,189
AV1	Adveritas Ltd	0.1025	30%	2,111,399	$37,138,572
JTL	Jayex Technology Ltd	0.0075	25%	6,010,614	$1,495,371
EWC	Energy World Corpor.	0.05	25%	2,716,494	$104,325,388
DW8	DW8 Limited	0.0025	25%	11,258,206	$6,203,045
KFE	Kogi Iron Ltd	0.005	25%	12,047,190	$6,528,311
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.0025	25%	4,144,300	$12,204,256
ROC	Rocketboots	0.115	24%	62,229	$2,952,750
EML	EML Payments Ltd	0.65	23%	16,839,346	$198,211,588
LCL	Los Cerros Limited	0.044	22%	36,121,956	$23,423,359
HCT	Holista CollTech Ltd	0.03	20%	20,000	$6,970,002
CHK	Cohiba Min Ltd	0.006	20%	9,003,911	$8,138,304
PKD	Parkd Ltd	0.024	20%	1,789,669	$2,004,003
EQS	Equitystorygroupltd	0.05	19%	98,000	$1,549,371
WOA	Wide Open Agricultur	0.32	19%	241,895	$34,757,579
TSL	Titanium Sands Ltd	0.013	18%	72,642	$15,470,376
HRE	Heavy Rare Earths	0.165	18%	70,910	$8,328,310
ELE	Elmore Ltd	0.021	17%	469,168	$19,958,175
IVZ	Invictus Energy Ltd	0.29	16%	17,202,015	$219,605,710

The biggest winner was was fraud prevention software player Adveritas (ASX:AV1) which received a conditional non-binding indicative proposal from NASDAQ listed Integral Ad Science, a global leader in digital ad verification, to acquire AV1 for $0.11 cash per share.

They were slim on the details but the board intends to consider the indicative proposal and will proceed to a definitive agreement if it believes a transaction should be put to shareholders for approval.

Energy World Corporation (ASX:EWC) announce plans for a non-renounceable pro-rata entitlement offer to raise $54.5m to refurbish its gas processing facility at Eromanga and bring it back into production;

The funds will also be used to purchase the remaining Right of Way required for the 250kva transmission line that will connect the Philippines Pagbilao power facility to the main grid at NGCPs new regional substation and to complete construction of the 12 km the aforementioned 250kva transmission line.

And advanced South American gold stock has Los Cerros (ASX:LCL) diversified, inking a deal to buy five large projects in PNG prospective for copper, nickel, and gold from private company Footprint Resources.

It gives LCL some juicy exploration targets to play with, in a jurisdiction known for its monster mineral deposits.

It also gives the company options as it waits for “greater clarity on new government mine development policies” in Colombia, where left-leaning Gustavo Petro won Colombia’s June 19 presidential election.

LCL’s 2.6Moz Quinchia project in Colombia is currently the focus of low-cost project development studies.

“This transformational addition to the Los Cerros mineral portfolio offers immediate and material exploration upside as well as jurisdictional and metal diversity, in particular the addition of critical metals to the electric vehicle sector,” managing director Jason Stirbinskis says.

“It also ensures we play to our strengths as successful explorers while our Quinchia project migrates to engineering/development studies.

“I have walked the ground over the key projects and the near term prospectivity of our new PNG portfolio is compelling.

“We are particularly excited to welcome Glenn and John to the company as they bring extensive PNG geological experience, are aligned to our ESG priorities and equip Los Cerros with a unique strategic and technical advantage in both PNG and Colombia across various mineralisation styles.”

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the least performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
BPH	BPH Energy Ltd	0.0205	-34%	98,039,636	$26,755,006
NNG	Nexion Group	0.054	-33%	1,248,751	$6,469,680
99L	99 Loyalty Ltd.	0.013	-32%	98,550	$22,033,972
CCX	City Chic Collective	0.985	-29%	16,035,268	$322,368,920
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.0015	-25%	3,131,293	$31,285,147
GES	Genesis Resources	0.006	-25%	300,000	$6,262,730
WBE	Whitebark Energy	0.0015	-25%	706,634	$12,929,772
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.004	-20%	2,207,800	$8,735,293
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.004	-20%	300,000	$14,701,165
TAS	Tasman Resources Ltd	0.008	-20%	2,500,000	$6,711,526
QUE	Queste Communication	0.025	-19%	1,196,200	$839,242
OEQ	Orion Equities	0.15	-19%	13,878	$2,895,107
AVM	Advance Metals Ltd	0.01	-17%	200,000	$5,784,529
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.005	-17%	170,000	$9,157,672
BCK	Brockman Mining Ltd	0.023	-15%	93,826	$250,566,268
ATU	Atrum Coal Ltd	0.006	-14%	1,666,667	$9,679,157
CAG	Caperangeltd	0.12	-14%	17,754	$13,287,162
LKY	Locksleyresources	0.06	-14%	2,041	$2,411,308
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.003	-14%	142,857	$4,527,259
IRX	Inhalerx Limited	0.054	-14%	300,000	$11,797,818
AFL	Af Legal Group Ltd	0.125	-14%	273,936	$11,097,781
OCL	Objective Corp	12.98	-14%	1,317,369	$1,429,884,655
DMM	Dmcmininglimited	0.13	-13%	704,049	$4,305,000
PEN	Peninsula Energy Ltd	0.135	-13%	23,485,129	$154,794,256