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

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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

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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.

TODAY’S TRADING HALTS

Asaplus Resources (ASX:AJY) – response to an ASX price query

Lumos Diagnostics (ASX:LDS) – ahead of a capital raise

Lycaon Resources (ASX:LYN) – ahead of a proposed material acquisition

Battery Minerals (ASX:BAT) – ahead of a proposed fund raising

Empire Energy Group (ASX:EEG) – ahead of a capital raise

 

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