ASX Small Caps and IPO Weekly Wrap: Spoiler alert – gold wins in the end

The ASX has weathered a very ugly week to finish 1.1% lower.
Once again, it’s the goldies emerging as the pick of the litter, up 2.6% because things got a bit scary.
Greentech Metals has topped the Small Caps winner’s list with a 120% gain, so well done those guys.

I’m pretty sure that the week we just had wasn’t the one that most people were hoping for, dominated as it was by interest rate hikes, (even more) US bank collapse fears and a local benchmark that looked aimless at best, and spitefully venomous when it was lucid.

In the end, though, the market finished lower by around 1.1%, and all of the economic rumblings here and in the US provided the perfect stage for gold to sit up and shine.

Here’s how it all went down.

Monday.

It kicked off on Monday (as a lot of working weeks tend to do), which was remarkably unremarkable – a modest 0.4% climb off the back of a pretty good session the previous Friday on Wall Street, where the dreaded Bank Collapse Boogeyman appeared to have been sent to his room by Big Brave JPMorgan.

JPM had to step in to try to quieten the squirrels tormenting US markets, when it really started to look like First Republic was all set to join the growing pile of lenders in the Great Big Bank Vault in the Sky.

After a weekend of frenzied phone-arounds to find a fix, JPMorgan apparently – as we were told at the time – drew the short straw and got provisionally tapped to stage some kind of rescue, lest US investors hit the panic button again and scuttled the global economy.

That wouldn’t have been their fault (not 100%, at least) – responsibility for it would have been a shared burden between compulsive investors and the idiots helming smaller US banks who clearly either don’t know what they’re doing, or simply don’t care.

It was a strange day for Small Caps – most of the noteworthy gains appeared almost out of thin air. Winning the day were Lincoln Minerals (ASX:LML) and Optima Technology (ASX:OPA), with both climbed nicely on no news at all.

Tuesday.

And here’s where things started going bad, as the ASX kicked things off by dumping all of Monday’s gains like an ill-timed tin of second-hand cat food on the freshly made bed of the bourse.

Then, at a meeting of the RBA Board that I am now okay with admitting I had completely forgotten about, Uncle Phil and his mates hit the nation on the back of a head with a solid silver shovel, picked the market’s pockets and fled cheering into the night.

A 25 basis point rate rise (from 3.6% to 3.85%) that looked like it even managed to shock The Guvner hit the market like a Russian torpedo, sparking a furious sell-off that cost the ASX 0.7% in under 10 minutes, taking an otherwise average loss-filled day and turning it into a miserable, sobbing -0.92% mess.

Against the backdrop of that, the day’s Small Caps winner Pinnacle Minerals (ASX:PIM) got the rough end of the pineapple, looking for all the world like it would go supersonic until the ASX slammed on the brakes about 90 minutes into the session when PIM was around +80%, on news it’s al set to drag the drills back to its Disruptor prospect on 15 May.

By the time PIM managed to convince the ASX that nothing nefarious was going on, the juice had run out and investors had lost a lot of interest. PIM retreated to “normal” levels of gains, just in time for Big Buddy Lowe to rock in with the interest rate bump, and by that time investors had one foot out the door entirely.

Wednesday.

Between opening lower at the start of the day and 2:30pm, the market managed to slide to as low as -1.5%, before staging a weak rally that saw things end up at -1.1%.

But it wasn’t a complete catastrophe, with the market-leader Greentech Metals (ASX:GRE) the right place at the right time is definitely the place to be, by releasing assay results from its Austin prospect, part of the greater Whundo Cu-Zn project in WA.

The company had bored into a copper dominant mineralised horizon with significantly increased thickness and grades up to 5.4% Cu., with one set of numbers that looks like this:

19m @ 0.81% Cu and 0.15% Zn from 225m, including:
- 15m@ 1% Cu from 226m, including
- 6m @ 2% Cu from 226m, including
- 1m @ 5.4% Cu from 226m

Bloody Marvellous, the market said, desperately looking for even a shred of good news, putting GRE up by around 200% for the day.

While the overall result wasn’t fantastic, the market left work on Wednesday with a faint, barely-perceptible buzz of optimism wafting lazily on the air, like someone was playing the dulcet tones of That Delightful Harry Styles at a distance sufficient to ensure that it didn’t send anyone into a violent, murderous rage.

(300-400km oughta be enough).

Thursday.

What did send Rage-o-Meters spiking deeeeeep into danger zones, however, was International Hyper-Bozo Jerome “Not Colin, the other one” Powell copying from the RBA’s answer sheet by doing his outright best to bring Wall Street to its knees.

It wasn’t the 25 basis points rate hike that the market 100% knew was coming, and had happily priced in, that did the damage.

It was – as per bloody usual – Powell himself doling out the uppercuts through the simple expedience of bollocking up the explanation, while he smoked the now-standard post-hike cigarette in front of the US media.

“We, on the committee, have a view that inflation is going to come down not so quickly, and that it would take some time. And in that world, if that forecast is broadly right, we would not cut rates, and we won’t cut rates,” Powell said at the time.

It’s been about 1.5 days since he said it, and I am still amazed that someone who clearly don’t spek so gud has been left in charge of America’s money.

Wall Street was absolutely fine with the rate rise, lifting a little immediately after it was announced – but the minute that incomprehensible garbage fell out of Ol’ Mush Mouth, Wall Street threw a tantrum.

That put the ASX on a sour footing from the get-go, down -0.5% at open and it was only a rockstar performance from Everyone Except the Banks to get local markets within a whisker of breaking even.

The upheaval left room for Greenwing Resources (ASX:GW1) to climb 25.6% on news that CEO Craig Lennon had resigned, and will be leaving the company at the end of June this year, while the company confirmed that the drills have started spinning at its San Jorge lithium project located in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

And that brings us to now – which I will leave the highly capable Nadine McGrath to dig into for you in Closing Bell.

Where did we land?

With all today’s shouting over and done with, the ASX 200 benchmark has finished 1.09% lower for the week, which isn’t surprising considering the knocks it’s been taking since Monday.

Looking at the Official Sector list, the best performer was Real Estate, which climbed 2.57% followed by Utilities on +1.37%.

And that’s the end of the good sector news, I’m afraid. The banking woes in the US really too their toll on local Financials stocks, which closed out the week down 2.81% – and given how bloated and corpulent that sector is, it’s a huge burden for the rest of the market to try to carry.

Energy fell by 1.72%, Health Care by 1.27%, Staples by 1.11% and that’s where I’m going to cap that list because at this point it’s like gawping mindlessly at a road accident.

The viciously volatile proceedings this week, however, did produce another stellar performance by local gold stocks, with the XGD All Ords Gold index climbing 3.24%, thanks to the abject cowardice of most investors and the precious metal booming into an all-time high above AUD$3,000 an ounce this week as well.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from 1-5 May:

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

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
GRE	Greentech Metals	0.18	120%	$7,103,800
AO1	Assetowl Limited	0.002	100%	$3,894,260
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.002	100%	$8,154,204
RGL	Riversgold	0.026	73%	$23,636,693
GCR	Golden Cross	0.005	67%	$5,486,281
ONE	Oneview Healthcare	0.13	59%	$66,683,396
WA1	WA1 Resources	2.72	52%	$85,412,006
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.0015	50%	$3,795,431
EMU	EMU NL	0.003	50%	$4,350,064
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.0045	50%	$14,356,099
PGY	Pilot Energy Ltd	0.015	50%	$13,613,987
LEL	Lithenergy	0.77	48%	$44,210,250
TPC	TPC Consolidated	3.85	48%	$42,658,549
ACS	Accent Resources NL	0.01	43%	$4,731,273
ENR	Encounter Resources	0.2	38%	$67,549,898
BGT	Bio-Gene Technology	0.13	35%	$22,129,165
LDX	Lumos Diagnostics	0.023	35%	$6,495,662
EOS	Electro Optic Sytems	0.79	35%	$142,125,885
PRS	Prospech Limited	0.035	35%	$7,421,443
MP1	Megaport Limited	5.33	34%	$853,903,204
CCO	The Calmer Co Int	0.004	33%	$1,600,355
GW1	Greenwing Resources	0.25	33%	$36,727,895
KEY	KEY Petroleum	0.002	33%	$3,935,856
4DX	4D Medical	1.135	33%	$334,667,070
PPK	PPK Group Limited	1.4	31%	$117,861,867
IMB	Intelligent Monitor	0.15	30%	$19,605,044
CBH	Coolabah Metals	0.125	30%	$4,725,000
WBT	Weebit Nano Ltd	6.78	30%	$1,190,589,304
PVT	Pivotal Metals Ltd	0.035	30%	$16,132,222
ICG	Inca Minerals Ltd	0.022	29%	$9,670,289
RXH	Rewardle Holding Ltd	0.031	29%	$17,368,609
TOY	Toys R Us	0.018	29%	$14,672,473
CDR	Codrus Minerals Ltd	0.16	28%	$5,053,750
CUS	Copper Search	0.32	28%	$15,838,469
OLL	Openlearning	0.042	27%	$11,518,370
COD	Coda Minerals Ltd	0.305	27%	$43,957,303
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.019	27%	$2,526,630
AJQ	Armour Energy Ltd	0.005	25%	$15,050,431
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.005	25%	$5,079,373
CAV	Carnavale Resources	0.0025	25%	$6,833,879
FGL	Frugl Group Limited	0.01	25%	$7,648,496
GNM	Great Northern	0.0025	25%	$4,272,627
LCT	Living Cell Tech	0.01	25%	$13,260,585
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.0025	25%	$9,789,271
NES	Nelson Resources	0.005	25%	$2,942,972
VTX	Vertexmin	0.125	25%	$5,715,625
GTE	Great Western Exp	0.048	23%	$9,976,917
PIM	Pinnacle Minerals	0.135	23%	$3,069,000
CPH	Creso Pharma Ltd	0.011	22%	$21,370,407
QEM	QEM Limited	0.22	22%	$25,724,425

The week’s Small Cap Champions trophy (huge big thing, made of a Spodumene-Hopium Alloy) is on its way to Greentech Metals (ASX:GRE) HQ, with the company posting a very solid +120% for the week.

Second place (Smaller trophy and a signed Certificate of Appreciation from the St Joseph’s School for Overprivileged Orphans 2nd XI cricket squad) belongs to Riversgold (ASX:RGL), for its stunning portrayal of success in The Little Goldie That Did.

And for third place, WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) gets a tiny silver shovel lapel pin, and a fistful of expired Hungry Jacks coupons for its +52% effort.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from 1-5 May:

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

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
1ST	1St Group Ltd	0.004	-43%	$6,767,667
LVT	Livetiles Limited	0.013	-38%	$13,613,154
EX1	Exopharm Limited	0.012	-37%	$3,086,923
SRT	Strata Investment	0.21	-35%	$4,086,059
ROO	Roots Sustainable	0.006	-33%	$773,540
PNT	Panther Metals	0.072	-31%	$4,830,850
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.086	-31%	$6,050,400
MRI	My Rewards International	0.02	-31%	$4,727,176
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.0035	-30%	$3,831,741
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.007	-30%	$10,533,497
CDX	Cardiex Limited	0.26	-30%	$38,735,691
DUN	Dundas Minerals	0.12	-29%	$5,930,531
OML	Ooh!Media Limited	1.2225	-29%	$670,416,421
AJL	AJ Lucas Group	0.015	-29%	$20,635,944
MYG	Mayfield Group Ltd	0.31	-28%	$28,081,627
DEL	Delorean Corporation	0.029	-28%	$6,471,627
RDS	Redstone Resources	0.008	-27%	$5,894,659
AMM	Armada Metals	0.035	-27%	$2,399,882
KGD	Kula Gold Limited	0.011	-27%	$4,478,543
SRX	Sierra Rutile	0.195	-26%	$80,604,925
OXT	Orexplore Technologies	0.056	-25%	$5,805,195
CLE	Cyclone Metals	0.0015	-25%	$13,633,872
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.0075	-25%	$7,871,187
DXN	DXN Limited	0.003	-25%	$5,163,945
NMR	Native Mineral Res	0.03	-25%	$3,604,162
AEE	Aura Energy	0.18	-25%	$98,191,531
MEK	Meeka Metals Limited	0.034	-24%	$37,366,313
MDX	Mindax Limited	0.155	-24%	$337,517,199
ADC	Acdc Metals Ltd	0.092	-23%	$4,300,770
CGO	CPT Global Limited	0.23	-23%	$10,474,341
BCA	Black Canyon Limited	0.2	-23%	$8,968,495
HVM	Happy Valley	0.02	-23%	$5,422,909
SRI	Sipa Resources Ltd	0.02	-23%	$4,791,321
WSP	Whispir Limited	0.285	-23%	$36,639,698
KED	Keypath Education	0.41	-23%	$91,917,969
ATV	Active Port Group	0.14	-22%	$23,835,252
AVM	Advance Metals Ltd	0.007	-22%	$4,074,308
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.007	-22%	$14,837,834
WHK	Whitehawk Limited	0.035	-22%	$9,683,363
VTI	Vision Tech Inc	0.215	-22%	$7,770,719
ANG	Austin Engineering	0.305	-22%	$175,001,875
LV1	Live Verdure Ltd	0.145	-22%	$12,290,063
ELE	Elmore Ltd	0.013	-21%	$19,591,374
TNY	Tinybeans Group Ltd	0.19	-21%	$12,277,091
DES	Desoto Resources	0.115	-21%	$6,891,548
SYR	Syrah Resources	1.0175	-21%	$636,260,679
MKR	Manuka Resources	0.066	-20%	$39,483,515
JCS	Jcurve Solutions	0.039	-20%	$14,447,111
SCU	Stemcell United Ltd	0.004	-20%	$4,496,554
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.008	-20%	$4,823,606