Closing Bell: Cancer-fighting medtech stock rockets 138% higher as ASX trades flat

Local stocks lost ground on Thursday, with minor falls at the big end of town and a slightly steeper drop of ~0.8% for the microcap Emerging Markets Index.

The ASX opened with a weak lead from Wall Street, after a fortnight of steady gains as investors responded to US corporate earnings season.

There were few catalysts in Asian trade, as the major indexes in Hong Kong and Japan also fell.

By sector, banking and gold stocks were the best performers as bond yields continued to climb.

US bond yields rose strongly again overnight and today the RBA chose not to buy April-2024 date debt as part of its yield curve control operations — a move which saw the yield on three-year Australian government bonds spike sharply higher.

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.031	138%	498,430,006
ALT	Analytica Limited	0.002	100%	6,109,392
NPM	Newpeak Metals	0.002	100%	4,333,334
OAK	Oakridge	0.002	100%	1,066,816
ANL	Amani Gold Ltd	0.003	50%	24,669,437
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.022	29%	56,338,509
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.003	20%	54,786,059
SPN	Sparc Tech Ltd	1.23	19%	1,875,823
DEL	Delorean Corporation	0.225	18%	1,784,496
AFA	ASF Group Limited	0.052	18%	20,000
MXO	Motio Ltd	0.084	17%	519,218
AFW	Applyflow Limited	0.007	17%	69,062,158
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.007	17%	7,271,315
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.0035	17%	877,215
BBT	Bluebet Holdings Ltd	2	16%	1,675,856
GL1	Globallith	0.485	15%	1,452,628

Cancer-fighting company Invion (ASX:IVX) was the standout performer of the day, after reporting that studies had shown “complete regression of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in vivo (on mice)” following application of the company’s INV043 treatment.

“TNBC is a hard-to-treat cancer that is resistant to most chemotherapies,” IVX said.

The results showed that tumour masses were undetectable after two weeks, with no scarring or recurrence of the disease which suggests “protective immunity”, the company added.

Invion CEO Thian Chew said the in vivo tests “sets the foundation for Invion to progress INV043 towards clinical trials”.

Among stocks with news, Philippines-based tech play Peppermint Innovations (ASX:PIL) was among the leaders after securing a gateway agreement with Dragonpay, one of the country’s largest payment networks.

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during the trading day).

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort.

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.002	-33.3%	210,877,921
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.002	-33.3%	17,334,432
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.008	-27.3%	126,338,159
KOR	Korab Resources	0.06	-20.0%	23,086,617
BAS	Bass Oil Ltd	0.002	-20.0%	1,823,001
VIC	Victory Mines Ltd	0.002	-20.0%	234,823
CMD	Cassius Mining Ltd	0.017	-19.0%	3,922,980
PBH	Pointsbet Holdings	8.63	-18.3%	10,944,332
RWD	Reward Minerals Ltd	0.14	-17.6%	2,178,148
RHI	Red Hill Iron	3.4	-16.9%	150,006
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.025	-16.7%	1,467,208
BUX	Buxton Resources Ltd	0.096	-16.5%	880,454
PVW	PVW Res Ltd	0.42	-16.0%	514,027
DTC	Damstra Holdings	0.775	-15.8%	2,439,938
IBG	Ironbark Zinc Ltd	0.044	-15.4%	7,167,064

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Today Mainstream (ASX:MAI) and Youfoodz (ASX:YFZ) were formally removed from the ASX. This followed their shareholders approving of their respective takeover bids from Vistra and HelloFresh respectively.

Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) announced it was launching cow’s milk powder products for entire families – not just babies. The company says the global market opportunity is US$15.7 billion and initial target markets will include China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

CIMIC (ASX:CIM) as part of a consortium with Spark was awarded a contract to deliver the North East Link in Melbourne. The company anticipates $3.8 billion all up with most (but not all) to be received during the operational phase.

Orbital Corporation (ASX:OEC) signed a MoU with Skyways, a Texas based company specialising in unmanned cargo transport. Orbital will deliver a pre-production, heavy fueld engine to Skyways to integrate into the company’s next generation unmanned air system.

Triangle Energy (ASX:TEG) reinstated the reserves at Cliff Head. The company had withdrawn it last year when BP announced it was ceasing fuel production at Kwinana but having signed an offtake agreement with BP Singapore, Triangle says it now has sufficient reasonable basis to attribute reserves.

Friday

Bioxyne (ASX:BXN) – potential acquisition
Vulcan (ASX:VUL) – short seller response
Mighty Craft (ASX:MCL) – capital raising
Gascoyne Resources (ASX:GCY) – takeover offer update
ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) – capital raising
Sky Metals (ASX:SKY) – capital raising
Pacific Nickel Mines (ASX:PNM) – capital raising
Prospect Resources (ASX:PSC) – capital raising
Korab Resources (ASX:KOR) – capital raising