Closing Bell: ASX ticks up on Christmas Eve, Avita soars, St Barbara slumps

ASX extends rally, tech stocks power Wall Street
Avita medical soars, St Barbara slumps
Bitcoin dips again, but several ‘altcoins’ surge

It’s Christmas Eve, the market’s winding down, and so are the journos – for a couple of days at least. But before we all race off, here’s a quick rundown on market.

The ASX ended today’s shortened session with a 0.24% rise in what’s been a solid week so far, following yesterday’s 1.7% bump.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 also crept up 0.7%, while the Nasdaq surged by 1%.

Mega-cap tech stocks like Meta, Tesla, Nvidia, and the big boys – Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet – all ended the day in the green, shrugging off a rise in US bond yields.

In the world of magic internet money, Bitcoin has taken bit of a breather lately after its meteoric rise. It dipped a further 0.5% earlier and is currently trading around $94,000. It’s now down about 12% from its record high just a week ago.

Strangely, however, several prominent ‘altcoins’ (that’s pretty much every crypto that isn’t Bitcoin) are faring much better today, with double-digit spikes for the likes of Aave, Hedera, Injective and Render.

Top 10 altcoins such as Ethereum (+4%), XRP (+4%), Solana (+5%) and Dogecoin (+4%) are in a more festive mood than a day or so ago, too.

Back on the ASX, this is how things looked at a 12:55pm AEDT:

Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) was the star of the day, jumping 6% after getting the green light from the US FDA for its Recell Go mini product – a device that helps treat smaller wounds.

Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) added 1.5% after completing its acquisition of Fission Uranium Corp, and now has its eyes set on hiring a new Canadian executive to lead its operations.

Coal miner St Barbara (ASX:SBM), however, got walloped by a 34% drop after getting a $206.6 million tax bill from the Papua New Guinea government.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for December 24 [intraday]:

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.002	100%	10,123,628	$2,964,861
GCM	Green Critical Min	0.008	60%	31,290,377	$9,537,766
ERA	Energy Resources	0.003	50%	93,151	$810,792,482
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.004	33%	2,794,493	$8,179,556
RGL	Riversgold	0.004	33%	26,012,022	$4,994,888
BUR	Burleyminerals	0.080	33%	137,934	$9,022,257
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.014	27%	313,283	$2,479,280
PPG	Pro-Pac Packaging	0.025	25%	100,000	$3,633,754
RON	Roninresourcesltd	0.175	25%	99,999	$5,652,501
CDT	Castle Minerals	0.003	25%	20,428	$3,345,628
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.003	25%	2,255,146	$4,887,272
MMR	Mec Resources	0.005	25%	1,124,899	$7,327,228
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.003	25%	5,382	$11,790,134
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	20%	10,363,985	$23,313,913
PNT	Panthermetalsltd	0.013	18%	1,325,803	$2,588,835
BDG	Black Dragon Gold	0.061	17%	1,453,013	$15,697,902
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.004	17%	100,013	$5,573,628
AJL	AJ Lucas Group	0.007	17%	28,795	$8,254,378
ALY	Alchemy Resource Ltd	0.007	17%	220,000	$7,068,458
PXX	Polarx Limited	0.007	17%	1,700,000	$14,253,006
HLX	Helix Resources	0.004	14%	125,000	$11,424,678

MRG Metals (ASX:MRQ) has made an update on its joint venture with Sinowin Lithium (SLC) for the Mozambique Corridor Sands projects. The Hong Kong-based JV, Terriland (70% SLC, 30% MRG), is now operational, with SLC committing US$6 million in working capital. To date, SLC has funded US$150k for MRG’s in-country costs, US$90k for management, and US$55k for exploration. Progress includes a revised scoping study, resubmission of mining licence applications, and the start of an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) study.

Alchemy Resources (ASX:ALY) said it’s making solid progress on its exploration at Roe Hills, WA. The team’s completed 1,500 lithium soil samples, with more to follow in January 2025. Geophysical surveys will also kick off in mid-January to help with drill targeting. On the gold front, RC drilling at the Monty Prospect shows low-grade mineralisation, extending along a 4km strike from the Parmelia Resource. Plans are in place to test more targets along the same structure, with drilling set for mid-2025.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for December 24 [intraday]:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
MOM	Moab Minerals Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,456,555	$4,700,998
SBM	St Barbara Limited	0.210	-31%	26,550,989	$330,268,134
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.004	-20%	95,286	$1,697,687
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.004	-20%	438,482	$1,945,882
ANR	Anatara Ls Ltd	0.042	-16%	144,644	$10,669,186
VMT	Vmoto Limited	0.058	-16%	105,412	$28,892,524
EME	Energy Metals Ltd	0.076	-15%	30,000	$18,661,815
1AI	Algorae Pharma	0.006	-14%	334,000	$11,811,763
CHM	Chimeric Therapeutic	0.006	-14%	1,075,168	$11,026,049
HMD	Heramed Limited	0.019	-14%	8,825,528	$17,326,370
AX8	Accelerate Resources	0.007	-13%	134,866	$4,663,154
CAZ	Cazaly Resources	0.013	-13%	5,522,717	$6,919,545
GBZ	GBM Rsources Ltd	0.007	-13%	3,800	$9,253,511
BNR	Bulletin Res Ltd	0.037	-12%	151,569	$12,331,760
EOF	Ecofibre Limited	0.030	-12%	30,521	$12,881,713
FDR	Finder	0.039	-11%	114,500	$12,508,686
LM1	Leeuwin Metals Ltd	0.120	-11%	72,981	$6,324,976
RLF	Rlfagtechltd	0.032	-11%	63,933	$8,408,746
C1X	Cosmosexploration	0.034	-11%	20,000	$3,171,731
HT8	Harris Technology Gl	0.010	-9%	8,333	$3,290,490
PWN	Parkway Corp Ltd	0.010	-9%	20,000	$30,438,252
NIM	Nimy Resources	0.060	-9%	350,246	$11,544,638

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Vertex Minerals (ASX:VTX) has raised $5.1 million through a convertible loan to support the completion of the Reward gravity gold processing plant, infrastructure, underground mine development, sustaining costs and working capital. The funding was strongly backed by institutional and sophisticated investors, with shares convertible at 17 cents apiece.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Vertex Minerals is a Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.