Closing Bell: It’s okay to feel a little let down when the market finishes the day flat

ASX was poised to finish flat, but managed to squeeze out a 1.2 point jump at the bell
Goldies have soared again, thanks to spot gold prices rising back above US$2000 an ounce
Western Mines Group defies the odds, cranking out a 186% rocket ride. Bravo

What a rollercoaster ride it was for the ASX today, with the benchmark bouncing at open, falling flat by lunch and looking for all the world like it was going to end the day flat.

Then, the shocking final twist – an inexplicable 0.1% drop in the final few minutes of the day had things looking like the market had, once again, not failed to be an utter disappointment to its parents and guardians.

But, miracle of miracles, there was just enough juice left in the tank for that to correct, and the day ended with the market up 1.2 pathetic points. It’s a gain, technically… but 0.02% is probably even more depressing than a huge loss.

The sectors were split today, with Telcos on top on +0.78 and Energy at the bottom on -0.57%, only slightly worse than Materials on -0.57%.

That’s despite the XGD All Ordinaries Gold index pumping out another platinum-plated sterling-silver effort, which saw it rise 3.82% while the best of the shiny stuff managed to stay north of the psychologically-significant US$2000/oz mark.

FROM THE HEADLINES

News in the US has been dominated by the indictment of former President Donald Trump on 34 felony (that’s the really bad kind) charges, relating to falsification of financial

The whole thing stems from Trump popping his pecker in a porn star, and then – the Dept of Justice, a long list of witnesses and a couple of people who have admitted (and gone to prison over) their role in the scheme – paying hush money to the lady involved, and subsequently did a bit of “creative accounting” to hide the payments in the lead up to the election he so bafflingly won.

Meanwhile, topping the “what’s hot” section at CNBC today is this gem of a headline: “Harvard expert shares her No. 1 ‘undesirable’ trait CEOs see in employees: It’s ‘a huge red flag’”.

She might be onto something – if I found out that someone had a thing for eating red flags, I probably wouldn’t hire them, either.

Except if my company made huge, edible red flags, of course.

Locally, Shadow Prime Minister Peter “I used to be a Queensland copper” Dutton has confirmed that the Liberal Party won’t support the government’s model for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

“It should be very clear to Australians by now that the prime minister is dividing the country and the Liberal Party seeks to unite the country,” Dutton said, drawing a very clear line between his party and First Nations people.

“We went to the last election with local and regional voices, that is essentially the policy we continue on with.”

Something that also happened at the last election: Dutton’s party suffered a -5.7% swing and lost 18 seats… make of that what you will.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

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
WMG	Western Mines	0.31	170%	12,910,029	$4,718,738
4DX	4Dmedical Limited	0.52	65%	4,395,662	$92,764,929
IVR	Investigator Res Ltd	0.056	37%	32,225,856	$58,923,807
MME	Moneyme Limited	0.15	36%	5,048,178	$31,157,195
ARD	Argent Minerals	0.015	36%	19,179,389	$12,941,293
DTM	Dart Mining NL	0.069	35%	3,270,382	$7,936,649
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.013	30%	283,114	$9,594,873
PXX	Polarx Limited	0.013	30%	4,524,875	$13,529,469
TUL	Tulla Resources	0.335	29%	1,000,771	$83,669,041
A1G	African Gold Ltd.	0.09	27%	557,724	$12,021,096
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.025	25%	8,000	$8,375,117
INP	Incentiapay Ltd	0.005	25%	400,000	$5,060,255
RXL	Rox Resources	0.34	24%	4,441,351	$61,697,422
KZR	Kalamazoo Resources	0.16	23%	482,343	$19,476,519
MDX	Mindax Limited	0.16	23%	3,214,448	$259,097,628
MXO	Motio Ltd	0.035	21%	60,000	$7,581,605
ERL	Empire Resources	0.006	20%	265,336	$5,564,675
GPR	Geopacific Resources	0.024	20%	237,302	$10,423,822
LDR	Lode Resources	0.305	20%	3,324,145	$16,924,157
ODA	Orcoda Limited	0.19	19%	328,583	$26,745,131
RED	Red 5 Limited	0.1775	18%	24,287,672	$481,760,883
LLO	Lion One Metals Ltd	1.1	18%	33,490	$11,168,336
XF1	Xref Limited	0.23	18%	119,708	$36,304,376
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.027	17%	529,307	$4,885,286
AZS	Azure Minerals	0.405	17%	6,275,690	$134,631,445

Hats off to Western Mines Group (ASX:WMG), which has cranked out a WMD on the gains scale, blowing up nearly 200% today on news of the discovery of an extensive nickel sulphide mineral system throughout the Mulga Tank Ultramafic Complex.

WMG has pulled up a cumulative 693.5m at 0.28% Ni, 128ppm Co, 61ppm Cu, 27ppb Pt+Pd in one drill hole at Mulga Tank, with other holes confirming an “extensive nickel sulphide system” with similarities to the large Mt Keith orebody.

Because nickel is currently in the process of replacing copper as the new lithium, investors are clearly pretty excited about the find – by lunchtime, WMG was up around 90%, and has closed out the day at +186.6%.

Likewise, 4D Medical (ASX:4DX) has also spent the afternoon improving its position – it was up 39.8% at lunchtime on news that it’s just signed a five-year contract with the University of Miami to provide XV LVAS (X-ray Velocimetry Lung Ventilation Analysis Software) ventilation reports.

The contract comes after a successful long-term clinical trial program already underway at University of Miami – and, given how freakishly expensive health care is in the US, 4DX’s official entry into the market Stateside has money-spinner written all over it.

Hence, 4DX was trading at $0.525 at the close of play, an overall climb of 66.67%.

There were a couple of absolute belters making moves on no news today – this morning, it was Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) rocketing up 27.2% before lunch, despite not issuing a peep of news since the company’s somewhat mediocre half-year report on 15 March. It finished the day on +36.6%.

And Investigator Resources (ASX:IVR) came screaming out of nowhere, again on no news, to post a 39.0% gain following an enormous spike in volume today, 32,225,856 compared to its 4-week average of just over 4 million.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the least best performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
HFY	Hubify Ltd	0.02	-33%	365,305	$14,884,089
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.002	-33%	24,857	$6,401,370
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.001	-33%	100,000	$16,074,312
AEV	Avenira Limited	0.0125	-26%	15,066,311	$21,169,591
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.007	-22%	204,375	$5,466,680
WEC	White Energy Company	0.11	-21%	6,024	$5,679,701
CII	CI Resources Limited	0.96	-21%	165,586	$141,008,951
DLT	Delta Drone Intl Ltd	0.009	-18%	22,644,375	$5,627,654
PHO	Phosco Ltd	0.07	-18%	405,273	$23,325,135
FTL	Firetail Resources	0.1	-17%	67,500	$7,800,000
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.015	-17%	50,000	$5,203,447
EXL	Elixinol Wellness	0.02	-17%	2,484,600	$7,590,374
PAR	Paradigm Bio.	1.125	-16%	3,623,881	$375,992,762
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.042	-16%	27,331,762	$114,634,106
HAL	Halo Technologies	0.17	-15%	16,852	$25,899,043
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.003	-14%	5,528	$40,395,804
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.003	-14%	9,248,796	$27,247,090
PIL	Peppermint Inv Ltd	0.006	-14%	593,215	$14,264,998
XST	Xstate Resources	0.012	-14%	162,574	$4,501,268
FDV	Frontier Digital Ltd	0.6	-14%	1,764,041	$263,758,978
EYE	Nova EYE Medical Ltd	0.26	-13%	1,264,766	$50,066,397
GRL	Godolphin Resources	0.065	-13%	192,808	$8,877,709
LVH	Livehire Limited	0.13	-13%	45,223	$50,701,964
WIA	WIA Gold Limited	0.033	-13%	2,325,954	$21,748,079
MRL	Mayur Resources Ltd	0.2	-13%	1,525,360	$67,977,992

LAST ORDERS

Some solid news for Pacific Nickel Mines Limited (ASX:PNM) today, with the company announcing that Glencore International has sent through a Letter of Commitment confirming receipt of its internal management approvals to execute an up to US$22m loan facility agreement and amended sales agreement for the Kolosori Nickel Project.

CEO Geoff Hiller says that the letter represents “an important milestone for the Project”, and given that nickel is glowing red-hot right now, PNM is in a good position to get in on the action with funding secured for its development.

“The company anticipates that it will be in a position to effect an initial drawdown of US$3m once documentation has been completed. This will enable the Company to continue the current development works,” Hiller said.

“The company believes that the Project holds relatively low technical risk, and that capital payback will be achieved in under 12 months.”

Meanwhile, Global X has launched the Global X USD Corporate Bond ETF (Currency Hedged) (ASX:USIG) into the market, citing the growing appetite for fixed income assets while the market has been quietly shitting the bed.

The fund has a management fee of 30 basis points and tracks the Bloomberg USD Liquid Investment Grade Corporate Hedged to AUD Index, which offers exposure to US investment grade corporate bonds, with bond maturities of at least three years and a minimum amount outstanding of US$750 million per bond and US$2 billion per issuer,” GlobalX said, all in one breath before passing out.

It’s the fourth product launch for Global X this year and brings its product range to 31 ETFs as the business continues its quest to expand in a manner similar to Clive Palmer’s tremendously girthy waistline.