First up, ladies and gents, inflation has spiked way above what the RBA and everyone else was expecting. The headline consumer prices rose 5.1% over the year – consensus was looking at around 4.6% – which frankly would’ve been bad enough but apparently, well… no point complaining about it now. Other than to point out inflation is not transitory.

So, the ASX200 has made it three straight in the red column, dropping about 0.8% at the close, but a decent score in the end to be honest, after the benchmark ran into some serious morning trouble off some very crappy overnight leads.

The Emerging Companies (XEC) Index is 1% lower.

Sector by sector, everyone is lower except maybe energy… I know that oil jumped overnight, so I’m going with that. And after a Tuesday pounding the major iron ore plays are back on the horse in late trade.

Tech stocks were pitiable. The Nasdaq fell 4% and then after market close, Alphabet of Google-fame fell 4% all on its own after missing quarterly revenue targets.

Yes,Life360 (ASX:360) can certainly be a bitch. Especially when shedding more than a quarter of its weight in one session on a scuppered US listing.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow rose after making announcements during the trading day).

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Charlie Sheen likes BNPL player Splitit (ASX:SPT),  on Wednesday. Samuel Jacobs, late of Business Insider and Stockhead ex-deputy editor, notes that at 25c the fintech is trading around 80% shy of the $1.47 level where co-founder Alon Feit sold 13,300,000 shares on-market in February 2021 for a nominal return of $19,551,000. A lot of detail there. The stock is trading handsomely higher, winning even.

Among stocks with news, agri-tech company Bio-Gene (ASX:BGT) jumped by around 15% following the release of its quarterly 4C trading update and among the diggers, Cullen Resources (ASX:CUL) rose by around 10% after reporting some “high-grade gold hits” intersected across broad widths” at its Damsel prospect.

Pumped up WA explorer  BMG Resources (ASX:BMG) has surged again in support of yesterday’s big share price gain.

Yummy intersects of thick, high-grade gold in drilling at ‘Capital’ — part of the ‘Abercrombie’ project — including a cherry on top – 31m at 6.18g/t gold. This was part of a broader 77m intersection grading ~3g/t from 116m.

So far, drilling has more than doubled the mineralised envelope at Capital to 550m long and 520m deep, while the deposit remains open in multiple directions.

Sparkling new drill results from Predictive Discovery’s (ASX:PDI) 3.65 M oz ‘Bankan’ discovery in Guinea include a highlight 41.5m at 5.2 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 598m depth.

The stock is climbing nicely after  a set of deeper hits have prompted PDI to plan further extensional drilling, to be incorporated in the drill program in the current quarter.

“These new results demonstrate the consistency of grade and mineralisation which evidently continues significantly beyond the bottom of the NE Bankan pit shell, further underpinning Predictive’s view that Bankan is potentially a Tier 1 gold mine in the making,” managing director Andrew Pardey says.

 

TODAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

(Stocks highlighted in yellow fell after making announcements during the trading day).

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Newcomer Halo Technologies (ASX:HAL) is trading lower after debuting on the local bourse yesterday. The global-focused financial research and trader services business says it intends to head off internationally and buddy up with like-minded trading platforms using it’s more than $36 million IPO kitty.

And, I don’t really want to mention oyster catcher East 33 (ASX:ETT) but when the deputy editor formerly known as Sam Jacobs points something out you just damn-well shut up and follow his lead.

A day after releasing a quarterly trading update where ETT mentioned something about inclement weather and Sydney Rock oysters, the stock that farms the rock has lost around 47% for the second day running.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

Torque Metals (ASX:TOR) has appointed senior geoscientist Cristian Moreno CEO. The company said Moreno brings a wealth of technical and management experience to lead the company’s ongoing gold and nickel activities.

Moreno’s appointment coincides with the company’s announcement it had received firm commitments to raise ~$3 million to sophisticated and professional investors. The company said it is now well-funded to accelerate exploration at its expanding gold project and recently discovered nickel targets.

Felix Gold (ASX:FXG) has announced drilling has started at its Treasure Creek Project within the Fairbanks Gold Mining District of Alaska. The company says the initial program is focused on several prospect areas across the company’s claims and is planned for ~7000 drilling metres. Felix said strong evidence of potential large-scale gold systems include extensive gold soil anomalism, coincident geophysical gold anomalies and significant previous drill intercepts.

And specialist mining services provider Aquirian Limited  (ASX:AQN) has announced it will acquire the business and assets of Cybem Mechanical Services Pty Ltd for an enterprise value of $3 million, including ~$1.5 million of plant and equipment. Aquirian said Cybem provides onsite labour support, field service and mechanical repair services and has averaged ~$9.5 million revenue and ~$1 million EBITDA over the past four financial years.

Aquirian said the business will strengthen its maintenance capabilities, while expanding service offerings to existing customers and broadening its customer base.

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