Closing Bell: Small caps retreat, Credit Suisse adds weight to lithium lunge

Emerging companies fall 0.7%
ASX200 0.8% lower
Superior Resources (ASX:SPQ) jumps on copper system find, Galileo up … heaps in May

The Emerging Companies (XEC) index is lower on Thursday, weighed down by broad losses as Credit Suisse agrees the run on lithium is done and dusted, for now.

The jig is up as “incentivising supply” has done its work “destroying demand” in the current troubled macro environment.

Credit Suisse says lithium is now a balanced market through till 2024.

The brokers at Credit Suisse cut their rating on Allkem (ASX:AKE) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) both to neutral from outperform.

“We previously considered the deficit was intractable, but the world has changed with inflation, war and lockdowns souring the demand outlook, whilst the pace of supply response to spiking prices has been more rapid than anticipated,” the brokers said.

Meanwhile, Shanghai has in its own twisted way had a coming out of sorts, emerging battered but not broken by a few months of heinous Covid-related lockdowns.

That hasn’t stopped the regional indices from flopping out of bed and flailing on the floor.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is down almost 1.7%, as shares of beleaguered tech-giant Alibaba fell away more than 3%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite slid 0.1% ahead while the Shenzhen composite gained 0.3%.

Credit Suisse says there could be a bit of a ‘tactical buying opportunity’ as Chines equities start to look like a bargain in the new light of a less extreme COVID-19 solution.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is about 0.2% lower, while the Topix index fell 0.4% and South Korea’s Kospi shed 1%.

TheASX 200 shed 0.8% as the national surplus came in at $10.5 billion for April, according to the boffins at the Bureau of Statistics. That was higher than the $9.3bn surplus forecast in an earlier Reuters poll.

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
CDX	Cardiex Limited	0.455	63%	1,187,700
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.007	40%	3,656,816
ARE	Argonaut Resources	0.004	33%	24,258,745
LCT	Living Cell Tech.	0.007	27%	20,453,245
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.125	25%	2,333,509
DRX	Diatreme Resources	0.04	25%	13,944,015
NZS	New Zealand Coastal	0.005	25%	8,082,566
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.016	23%	954,882
KFM	Kingfisher Mining	0.345	21%	370,305
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.018	20%	1,494,655
FRB	Firebird Metals	0.36	20%	173,375
XST	Xstate Resources	0.003	20%	343,348
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.038	19%	1,793,536
PVE	Po Valley Energy Ltd	0.038	19%	2,599,216
SXG	Southern Cross Gold	0.7	19%	13,990,049
LIN	Lindian Resources	0.105	18%	27,317,098
MEI	Meteoric Resources	0.0165	18%	51,038,877
GPR	Geopacific Resources	0.11	17%	1,683,460
VOL	Victory Offices Ltd	0.042	17%	881,500
XTC	Xantippe Res Ltd	0.0105	17%	38,387,209
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.028	17%	3,329,635
LYN	Lycaonresources	0.51	16%	412,001
SW1	Swift Networks Group	0.022	16%	579,425
INR	Ioneer Ltd	0.525	15%	8,635,503
AXI	Axiom Properties	0.069	15%	13,100

Superior Resources (ASX:SPQ) says a “very large copper system is emerging” at the ‘Bottletree’ porphyry prospect in QLD, with latest assays returning an impressive 632m of copper mineralisation in one drill hole.

The overall 632m hit was graded at 0.21% copper, 0.03g/t gold, 0.60ppm silver, 18ppm molybdenum from 5m depth, but included a bunch of higher-grade chunks, according to our Reuben of Resources.

It is also on the outer part of the 1.5km by 1km soil copper anomaly at Bottletree. Grades should get higher as drilling dials in on the porphyry core, SPQ says.

Up again today to no ones surprise, least of all our erstwhile cider producing editor, Peter Farquhar, who reckons there’s but one story in ASX Small Caps Land in May, and that is Galileo (ASX:GAL), up about 557% for the month.

GAL is up another 30% today. It’s like they think the world revolves around them or something.

By all reports, he knew his way around a telescope, but even Galileo would have struggled to spot the ASX explorer that took his name to these stratospheric heights.

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
VMG	VDM Group Limited	0.001	-50%	500,116
TTB	Total Brain Ltd	0.071	-18%	79,988
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.0045	-18%	14,344,963
MPG	Manypeaksgoldlimited	0.29	-17%	166,146
DUN	Dundasminerals	0.125	-17%	36,825
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.005	-17%	250,000
NGY	Nuenergy Gas Ltd	0.02	-17%	46,600
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.295	-14%	621,401
ARE	Argonaut Resources	0.003	-14%	6,819,749
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.006	-14%	40,000
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.006	-14%	1,569,215
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.012	-14%	1,709,413
LYK	Lykosmetalslimited	0.245	-14%	125,203
OVN	Oventus Medical Ltd	0.0215	-14%	93,510
DAF	Discovery Alaska Ltd	0.062	-14%	2,177,819
OLL	Openlearning	0.04	-13%	258,911
VAN	Vango Mining Ltd	0.048	-13%	428,088
AHN	Athena Resources	0.007	-13%	190,823
AJQ	Armour Energy Ltd	0.007	-13%	2,877,707
PCL	Pancontinental Energ	0.007	-13%	36,468,444
BUR	Burleyminerals	0.105	-13%	53,010
GFN	Gefen Int	0.14	-13%	133,875
YPBDB	YPB Group Ltd	0.021	-13%	1,109,494
EMP	Emperor Energy Ltd	0.037	-12%	1,987,748
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.015	-12%	1,139,028

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Coming in under the radar a bit today was Blackstone Minerals (ASX:BSX), which had plenty to say about its massive new nickel sulphide targets at its Vietnamese prospects. At the Suoi Phang prospect, Portable XRF readings are indicating the presence of up to 20% Ni, and the company is steadily working towards upgrading the current resources into a higher confidence category at its advanced MSV deposits Ban Chang and King Snake.

Meanwhile, Surefire Resources (ASX:SRN) has sent out some lovely happy snaps taken from its drilling intercepts at the Yidby gold project. This surefire goldie – OMG stop it – certainly has the rock-hoppers happy, as the results clearly show enough evidence to considerably up-scale the footprint at Yidby, which is surrounded by significant known gold deposits.

Over at My Food Bag (ASX:MFB), the news is that Chris Marshall is set to retire as a Director of the company at the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in August, and will not seek re-election. Marshall came on board in 2016 and helped steer the company through its IPO 15 months ago, and will remain close by as director of funds which remain one of My Food Bag’s largest shareholders.

And some ultra-brief updates from the miners: King River Resources (ASX:KRR) is about to start drilling at Tennant’s Creek, with this year’s priority drill target a high-grade gold prospect called ‘Kurundi’ Main, while Santana Minerals Limited (ASX: SMI) says it’s got some significant results from its 100% owned Bendigo-Ophir Project, after drilling into a gold rich shoot that “keeps on giving down plunge in an exciting resource building way,” according to Executive Director Dick Keevers.