CLOSING BELL: ASX slips, although Utilities stocks rally by 0.73%

• The ASX 200 was down 0.18% while the ASX XEC rose 0.23%
• 6 out of 11 sectors were lower with the Financials sectors the lowest
• The Utilities sector was leading, up 0.73%

The ASX 200 was down 0.18% today and the ASX XEC was up 0.23%. 

Only five of the underlying sectors are higher and six are lower, with Utilities the strongest sector, rallying by 0.73%, with notable small caps stocks including Delorean Corporation (ASX:DEL) up 12.5% and Genex Power (ASX:GNX) up 3.75%. 

Financials was the weakest, losing 1.15% – probably something to do with the Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) drama, which you can read all about here courtesy of Stockhead’s Eddy Sunarto.

NOT THE ASX

US stock indices rose yesterday, recouping losses after a wild trading session Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter point but suggested it may be done raising interest rates soon.

Meanwhile, fresh data released early Thursday showed that filings for unemployment benefits held nearly steady last week, a sign that the broader labour market is robust despite large companies announcing layoffs.

The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 ended Thursday down 0.9% in the wake of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying there were no plans to extend banking deposit insurance.

“The FTSE 100 in particular has struggled on a combination of ex-dividends, and a weak performance from banks. British American Tobacco was the worst performer on an ex-div basis, while HSBC and Standard Chartered have also slipped after posting two successive days of gains,” CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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The small cap leader today was gold explorer Sihayo Gold (ASX:SIH) after announcing positive results for three more holes in the current drilling program at the company’s Sihayo Starter Project in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

All three holes returned significant gold intercepts, including:

• Hole SHDD653 intersected 50.0m @ 7.75g/t Au from 215m, including 22.0m @ 13.14g/t Au from 228m;
• Hole SHDD651 intersected 32.0m @ 4.73g/t Au from 249m, including 18.0m @ 7.55g/t Au from 263m; and
• Hole SHDD652 intersected 10.55m @ 3.09g/t Au from 305m, including 4.55m @ 4.98g/t Au from 311m.

SIH said 14 holes for 4,736m of diamond drilling have been completed to date with follow-up drilling program testing potential extensions to known deeper high grade gold mineralisation at Sihayo.

“We believe the Sihayo gold deposit, which appears to be strengthening in both grade and thickness at depth, is analogous to the multi-million ounce Cortez Hills gold deposit in Nevada,” executive chairman Colin Moorhead said.

With these latest intercepts, we believe there is strong potential to grow the resource and further strengthen the case for an independent underground operation at Sihayo.” 

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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TRADING HALTS

Happy Valley Nutrition (ASX:HVM) – capital raising.

Proteomics International (ASX:PIQ) – pending the release of the results from a study to validate the performance of a panel of protein biomarkers for diagnosing endometriosis, which will be presented today in Brisbane at the 70th Annual Meeting of the international Society for Reproductive Investigation.