Closing Bell: Tech takes control as Asia Pacific markets rise en masse

Wall Street inspires strong Asian market gains
Bubs leads quarterly numbers at home
Victory Goldfields becomes Victory REE for Wednesday

Let’s start big and go little today.

The S&P500 closed 2.6% higher early this morning – best session since June 24 – but who can stop and admire, when the Nasdaq climbed 3%.

A mix – let us call it a confluence of factors at play here – on the continent, where the word is Russian gas into the EU is back on via Nord Stream 1. Better-than-expected consumer sentiment, inflation expectations and retail sales data forearmed traders for the positive Q2 earnings drops which have assuaged recession banter for the moment.

While a tamer view of inflation has sparked a burst of buying across regional markets, the respite may be brief. UK prices and The Bank of England come into play tonight, Sydenham time. In the meantime hay = sunshine around the Asia-Pac – Japan’s Nikkei is 2% higher, the Chinese mainland Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component are both circa 0.6% for the better, as the People’s Bank kept rates on hold.

Korea’s KOPSI is 1% up.

The ‘Guv Bailey warned overnight that a 50bps rise is ‘on the table’, adding a landmark tightening could be the only play to turn the UK’s 40-year-high inflation back on course toward the BoE’s 2% target.

Then there’s the European Central Bank’s policy meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday, Christine Lagarde has been telling everyone with an ear and a pen that she’s in an impossible situ, while policymakers have been telegraphing the first hike at the ECB in more than a decade.

There is, however lower prices at the gas and petrol pumps. There’s the Financial Times talking up the possibility of an end to Russia’s gridlock on Ukraine’s grain exports, although in my opinion, what’s the point of trusting in the safety of ports when the farms themselves are reportedly being targeted?

But anything that lessens the looming global food crisis is welcome. If the raging bushfires leave us anything.

Closer to home, China has kept a lid on its benchmark lending rates, leaving the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) at 3.70%, and the five-year LPR was unchanged at 4.45%, in line with market expectations. Chinese policymakers are tiptoeing their way through a difficult run and as per are weaving a cautious path through creeping COVID numbers, an awful property drama and global rate rises which may yet scupper the RMB.

In US company news, the Netflix exodus was less than expected – the home of Stranger Things provided Q3 guidance, saying it expects circa 1 million net new subscribers. And while Netflix shares jumped on the news, it closed near US$200 – after spending most of last year loitering near US$700.

At home, tech is driving rich gains, the All Ords is up almost 2.6%. The benchmark ASX 200 is at 1.6% and the Emerging Markets (XEC) index is 1.8% and climbing at 3.45pm AEDT.

Nadine McGrath has a close eye on all the quarterlies that matter to us. Her round up just dropped and it’s a snappy, bite-size Chicken McNugget with sweet and sour sauce of a read.

Up in BrisVegas, McGrath has also been prying open the infant formula tins to see what makes Bubs Australia (ASX:BUB) tick and found the infant formula maker has done incredibly well out of the infant formula crisis in the US – so no surprise it’s just announced a record quarter, she says.

Bubs topped Q4 gross revenue of $48m, up 278% previous corresponding period (pcp) and up 174% QoQ, delivering the fourth consecutive quarter of growth on prior year. FY22 gross revenue was $104.2m, up 123% pcp and more than double last year.

Bubs said it had achieved sustained growth momentum across all key product segments (A2 Beta-Casein, Organic Grass-fed, and Easy-digest Goat infant formula), along with all key markets Australia, China, and the US.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 20 [intraday]:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume
TON	Triton Min Ltd	0.027	54%	7,704,247
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.007	40%	5,360,000
HAL	Halo Technologies	0.6	40%	53,819
NUH	Nuheara Limited	0.255	38%	706,153
RR1	Reach Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	4,437,402
ADV	Ardiden Ltd	0.0085	31%	31,021,269
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.007	27%	18,310,599
MOH	Moho Resources	0.03	25%	320,992
MCL	Mighty Craft Ltd	0.2	25%	628,055
GCR	Golden Cross	0.01	25%	116,916
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.0025	25%	112
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.0025	25%	460,490
KNI	Kunikolimited	0.86	24%	544,186
MP1	Megaport Limited	8	24%	5,432,392
1VG	Victory Goldfields	0.16	23%	4,863,700
TYM	Tymlez Group	0.027	23%	4,438,116
S66	Star Combo	0.19	23%	3,540
SLM	Solismineralsltd	0.085	21%	59,527
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	0.03	20%	150,860
SDV	Scidev Ltd	0.21	20%	151,762
X2M	X2M Connect Limited	0.12	20%	129,574
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.006	20%	1,563,823
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.006	20%	4,324,572
SEG	Sports Ent Grp Ltd	0.285	19%	26,450
ADS	Adslot Ltd.	0.013	18%	5,495,864

It’s all about Victory Goldfields’ (ASX:1VG) and the discoveries at its 100% owned Mafeking and North Stanmore Projects in Western Australia – up 50% or so last time I checked.

Victory’s recent 4400m air core drilling program confirmed significant values of both heavy rare earth oxides (HREO) and light rare earth oxides (LREO).

Yttrium, lanthanum and cerium were originally identified, leading Victory to commission REE specialists and geochemists who subsequently reported an average Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) grade of 1020ppm and a Heavy Rare Earth Oxide (HREO)of 419ppm, with the highest TREO concentration reaching 3872ppm.

“This incredible exploration success from our recent drilling program (represents) high TREO grades that are comparable to several global saprolite (ionic clay) deposits that also contain the critical metal scandium,” a delighted executive director Brendan Clark said, describing the discoveries as a significant moment for Victory and its shareholders.

Scandium is a critical component of military aircraft, aerospace industry and hydrogen fuel cells, and it is present at significant concentrations, up to 94ppm (Sc2O3).

Firebrick (ASX:FRE) has recovered from its US FDA Nasodine knock-back, adding 26% this morning, and Mighty Craft (ASX:MCL) has investors frothing and enjoying a not-even-remotely bitter 25% hop.

In a little more tech triumph today, even Megaport (ASX:MP1) has jumped well over 20% after a quarterly of joy across the entire business.

MP1 celebrates its maiden EBITDA turnaorund for Q4, its Japan and Canada markets turning profitable for the first time driven by customer and revenue growth.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 20 [intraday]:

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

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume
AHQ	Allegiance Coal Ltd	0.1275	-29%	22,465,116
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.012	-25%	3,697,541
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.003	-25%	3,152,284
KFE	Kogi Iron Ltd	0.003	-25%	6,374,000
BXN	Bioxyne Ltd	0.013	-24%	484,174
DOR	Doriemus PLC	0.048	-20%	710,862
CFO	Cfoam Limited	0.004	-20%	199,254
MGG	Mogul Games Grp Ltd	0.002	-20%	2,200,000
BTE	Botala Energy	0.145	-19%	13,500
ZLD	Zelira Therapeutics	2.2	-19%	59,744
PVE	Po Valley Energy Ltd	0.054	-17%	615,605
GWR	GWR Group Ltd	0.1	-17%	1,400,416
AYM	Australia United Min	0.005	-17%	30,000
GLV	Global Oil & Gas	0.0025	-17%	8,429,350
CTV	Colortv Limited	0.006	-14%	734,857
TPD	Talon Energy Ltd	0.006	-14%	32,299,668
VKA	Viking Mines Ltd	0.006	-14%	416,667
APS	Allup Silica Ltd	0.075	-14%	149,287
GRL	Godolphin Resources	0.087	-13%	75,544
ERL	Empire Resources	0.007	-13%	271,820
RNX	Renegade Exploration	0.007	-13%	15,546
AHC	Austco Healthcare	0.115	-12%	26,774
MPA	Mad Paws	0.12	-11%	501,087
SNG	Siren Gold	0.24	-11%	637,862
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.004	-11%	416,666

As Gregor notes with neither scorn nor sympathy – Allegiance Coal (ASX:AHQ) remains ‘at the sorry end’ of the market spectrum, following up yesterday’s 66.7% beheading with another 25% cut to both legs.

The mining minnow with the name which makes you want to blow things up – Alderan Resources (ASX:AL8) – is down sharply, possibly on word Princess Leia capitulated and told Grand Mof Tarkin where the rebels were hiding.

No, that’s not the last Alderaan joke we make about AL8, either. Give us some joy in our days.

WHAT YOU MAY’VE MISSED

Lots of noise around the market today, so you might have missed that Vimy Resources (ASX:VMY) has got the old crew together for a bit of a chinwag, and it’s been decided to merge with Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL).

The vote was a Putin-esque 96.57% (without any of the “Really Vlad? That many?” shenanigans, of course!) of Vimy Shareholders present and voting at the meeting in favour of the plan, which now goes before a WA court to make sure everything’s completely cool, before papers are lodged on 27 July.

There’s another new CEO announcement, this time from Armour Energy (ASX:AJQ), which has welcomed Christian Lange to the hot seat. Lange is coming to the gig with three decades of knowledge packed into his brain, most recently from an 18-year stretch with global oil and gasfield services provider Schlumberger, which took him all around the world.

Anyone who’s been watching Triton Minerals (ASX:TON) today and wondering WTF’s been going on with its sky-rocketing price, rest assured that you’re not alone. We can’t explain it, and – apparently – neither can Triton. The ASX fired off a postcard to find out why the price went through the roof today, and Triton wrote back a very simple “we really don’t know, either”.

So, as we near the end of the day, Triton’s price is still almost 50% higher than it was as dawn broke this morning, for absolutely no reason at all other than it just is – which could remain one of the Great Unsolved Mysteries of the modern era.

TRADING HALTS

Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX: WMC) – Wiluna is reviewing its financial position, which sounds a bit serious.