Wednesday. Via Getty
News
And that’s how you say Wednesday was merde in French.
Let’s do some good news first.
Aussie retail sales climbed for an eighth consecutive month in August, beating economists’ forecasts and showing we’re cashed-up households and helping nullify rate rises by escalating inflation. Good one.
And it seems our federal deficit was almost $50bn better than expected for the last financial year according to new Department of Finance figures.
Super-high prices for Aussie commodities drove a $48bn sized hole through Treasury’s last budget estimates taken in May, leaving the $32bn deficit the largest ever variation between a final budget outcome (FBO) and the preceding fiscal projections.
The Aussie dollar is but one of many currencies being mown down by a rampant USD.
Today its wallowing below 64 cents (down almost a full cent) after more hawkish Fedspeak and the US administration deciding it necessary to pour water on any looming cross-border currency deal to ease the pace of the ascending greenback.
China’s RMB has retraced the lows of 2008 against the USD, while the Indian rupee struck a record low.
Currencies are a new and startling chapter of doubt in the 2022 yearbook of uncertainty, with regional markets handed their own arses in Wednesday trade.
Most Asian-Pacific indices are down between 1 and 2% at 1600 in Sydney.
The ASX 200 has nudged 2020 lows and the small caps index is down over 1.3%.
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QXR | Qx Resources Limited | 0.053 | 61% | 178,399,108 | $28,358,956.59 |
| AJQ | Armour Energy Ltd | 0.007 | 40% | 14,312,060 | $11,292,254.38 |
| CGS | Cogstate Ltd | 1.95 | 39% | 2,317,673 | $242,715,663.40 |
| BMM | Balkanminingandmin | 0.41 | 34% | 1,979,833 | $9,988,750.00 |
| HIQ | Hitiq Limited | 0.066 | 32% | 27,944 | $5,657,809.15 |
| CT1 | Constellation Tech | 0.005 | 25% | 1,000,000 | $5,884,801.48 |
| UUL | Ultima Utd Ltd | 0.095 | 20% | 186,785 | $5,791,294.40 |
| AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.003 | 20% | 963,000 | $5,384,236.14 |
| SBR | Sabre Resources | 0.006 | 20% | 87,128,914 | $13,949,280.04 |
| MAU | Magnetic Resources | 0.95 | 19% | 23,379 | $181,631,660.12 |
| 1AG | Alterra Limited | 0.013 | 18% | 483,488 | $7,651,078.03 |
| GW1 | Greenwing Resources | 0.425 | 18% | 1,605,897 | $44,369,045.64 |
| IS3 | I Synergy Group Ltd | 0.047 | 18% | 186,466 | $10,738,457.04 |
| CFO | Cfoam Limited | 0.0035 | 17% | 725,000 | $2,201,521.90 |
| GTG | Genetic Technologies | 0.0035 | 17% | 4,622,165 | $27,701,895.43 |
| SW1 | Swift Networks Group | 0.015 | 15% | 199,668 | $7,541,922.70 |
| TI1 | Tombador Iron | 0.023 | 15% | 450,496 | $22,446,506.76 |
| MKR | Manuka Resources. | 0.16 | 14% | 25,369 | $40,042,853.34 |
| WHK | Whitehawk Limited | 0.056 | 14% | 101,614 | $11,158,512.70 |
| SNG | Siren Gold | 0.205 | 14% | 212,435 | $18,756,329.04 |
| FTL | Firetail Resources | 0.21 | 14% | 178,230 | $11,429,762.50 |
| SOP | Synertec Corporation | 0.175 | 13% | 239,959 | $60,234,636.80 |
| MLM | Metallica Minerals | 0.045 | 13% | 488,360 | $26,827,988.04 |
| TTB | Total Brain Ltd | 0.045 | 13% | 15,000 | $5,348,845.24 |
| NET | Netlinkz Limited | 0.018 | 13% | 8,482,348 | $52,382,555.30 |
Up well over a shonky 40% in early trade, Cogstate (ASX:CGS) is a local medtech all about digital brain health assessments which caught the attention of the ASX highway patrol:
But they did have this to say and it does make it look like a classic case of mistaken identity:
Earlier today, Eisai Co. (Eisai), a company incorporated in Japan and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, announced that its confirmatory phase 3 Clarity AD study of experimental therapy, Lecanemab, met primary endpoint, showing a statistically significant reduction of clinical decline in a global clinical study of 1,795 participants with early Alzheimer’s disease.
This development relates to an arrangement between Eisai and Biogen Inc. in relation to the development of Lecanemab pursuant to a co-commercialisation and co-promotion agreement between those parties.**
Cogstate is not a party to those arrangements and does not have access to, nor is it otherwise aware of, any information in relation to this development other than as publicly released by Eisai and Biogen.
**That’s a pretty shonky piece of writing.
QX Resources (ASX:QXR) has made a very correct call, the market has adjudged.
The explorer ~54% is QXR on the announcement of Steve Promnitz as managing director, previously the managing director of advanced ltihium brine project developer Lake Resources (ASX:LKE).
Promnitz is known in the mining game for having secured the Kachi lithium assets for LKE back in 2016, taking the company from a mid-cap nobody to a near-term miner where most project financing is in place for its development.
In the process, he took a $1 million market value private company, using new exploration models and ESG friendly extraction techniques, to form an ASX 200 company with a strong balance sheet and a market capitalisation of ~$2.1 billion at the time of his departure.
QXR’s executive chairman Maurice Feilich on the appointment and the company’s aggressive posture:
“We are fortunate to have secured Steve as our managing director and we are confident that he can drive QXR to the next stage of its growth and development.”
Meanwhile, one of Nadine McGrath’s fascinations, Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) has come screaming out of a trading halt ( a dramatic pause would’ve also been appropriate here) into an overdue China deal – this one with Heilongjiang Ubeite Dairy Group (HUG).
… yes, that’s right HUG and BUB plan to make and flog BUB’s China-labelled Goat infant formula and ultra-premium products.
BUB says HUG has lodged a submission with the Chinese government (we’ll call it a SUB) to renew its existing reg0 to align with China’s’s fickle new standards regime.
And so, with shares up about 6%, HUG’s SUB with BUB will kick off in H2, if it gets the rub.
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | % | Volume | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARE | Argonaut Resources | 0.001 | -33% | 6,770,000 | $8,142,806.91 |
| MEB | Medibio Limited | 0.001 | -33% | 50,000 | $4,980,890.69 |
| T3D | 333D Limited | 0.001 | -33% | 11,840 | $4,581,445.00 |
| RAN | Range International | 0.0065 | -28% | 2,393,530 | $8,453,612.88 |
| BTR | Brightstar Resources | 0.016 | -27% | 1,173,563 | $14,230,939.12 |
| MGG | Mogul Games Grp Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 325,500 | $6,526,882.41 |
| TSC | Twenty Seven Co. Ltd | 0.0015 | -25% | 15,623,971 | $5,321,627.81 |
| PO3 | Purifloh Ltd | 0.27 | -23% | 370 | $11,033,224.30 |
| GRV | Greenvale Mining Ltd | 0.06 | -20% | 3,289,378 | $29,795,861.93 |
| SYN | Synergia Energy Ltd | 0.002 | -20% | 797 | $21,044,476.76 |
| E79 | E79Goldmineslimited | 0.105 | -19% | 311,096 | $7,222,263.10 |
| RFT | Rectifier Technolog | 0.031 | -18% | 4,414,498 | $52,246,349.99 |
| CAF | Centrepoint Alliance | 0.215 | -17% | 18,204 | $50,929,291.14 |
| CUF | Cufe Ltd | 0.015 | -17% | 803,639 | $17,390,022.57 |
| ADR | Adherium Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 828,763 | $15,371,099.20 |
| CTO | Citigold Corp Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 2,875,759 | $17,001,954.55 |
| FAU | First Au Ltd | 0.005 | -17% | 227,741 | $5,588,465.69 |
| G88 | Golden Mile Res Ltd | 0.027 | -16% | 4,349,442 | $6,546,872.19 |
| SRR | Saramaresourcesltd | 0.11 | -15% | 10,000 | $5,071,380.47 |
| IHR | intelliHR Limited | 0.056 | -15% | 584,778 | $22,410,061.08 |
| TLX | Telix Pharmaceutical | 4.58 | -15% | 3,779,027 | $1,687,651,796.60 |
| LYK | Lykosmetalslimited | 0.17 | -15% | 25,873 | $12,480,000.00 |
| RAS | Ragusa Minerals Ltd | 0.345 | -15% | 8,810,623 | $52,100,847.54 |
| RTG | RTG Mining Inc. | 0.047 | -15% | 107,200 | $43,812,482.95 |
| CHK | Cohiba Min Ltd | 0.006 | -14% | 100,000 | $11,393,625.66 |
Nickel Industries’ (ASX:NIC) has moved to increase ownership in Oracle Nickel to 70% a few months earlier than planned.
Askari Metals (ASX: AS2) says hyperspectral surveys at the Myrnas Hill Lithium Project, in the eastern Pilbara, have identified “numerous high-priority exploration targets”.
The Myrnas Hill Project is 45 km northwest of Global Lithium Resources (ASX: GL1) Archer Lithium Deposit containing 10.5Mt @ 1.0% Li2O and borders the DOM’s Hill (JV-SQM) and Pear Creak Lithium Projects owned by Kalamazoo Resources (ASX: KZR). On-ground exploration will follow.
Finally, troubled goldie Ora Banda Mining (ASX:OBM) has a newish boss and a few less executive directors, the company says.
Commenting on the promotion of current CEO and Northern Star’s ex-COO Luke Creagh to MD, OBM’s chairman, Peter Mansell offered these words:
“Luke is highly experienced in managing mining operations and is well placed to lead Ora Banda and extract maximum value from Ora Banda’s highly prospective land package.
He is an outstanding individual who is well qualified to guide Ora Banda in future and we look forward to continuing the journey with him to drive value through operational execution, exploration and resource definition.”
Apollo Tourism & Leisure (ASX: ATL) – Pending an announcement regarding the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC’s) decision on the proposed merger with Tourism Holdings expected to be released on Thursday, 29th.
Ragnar Metals (ASX:RAG) – Pending a significant announcement in relation to exploration results from the Swedish drilling program.
Bubs (ASX: BUB) – Pending an announcement by Bubs regarding a new joint venture arrangement for the manufacture and distribution of Bubs’ branded products in China. Yeah. that’s the HUG/BUB thing.
AJ Lucas Group (ASX:AJL) – Pending capital raise
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