• The benchmark grumbles to a slovenly 0.7% slide
  • Aussie bond yields have risen 13 basis points as recession chatter continues
  • Domino’s sinks after getting laughed out of Italy

The ASX has been consistently indolent, even – dare we say it – obstreperous, refusing to get up from the supermarket floor after its -0.6% post-breakfast lolly-isle tanty.

Consumer Discretionary (-1.34%), Health Care (-1.71%), Real Estate (-1.82%) and InfoTech (-1.96%) were the most poorly-behaved of the sectors, so they’re top of the list for a solid spanking as soon as we get home from work.

Energy was the only bright spark (+2.17%), so it gets to choose the movie tonight.

Elsewhere in Numbers Land, The 10-year Australian bond yield jumped 13bps to 3.42%, skulking in the wake of a Treasuries shift overnight.

The sell-down could be due to fresh efforts by Fed Reserves officials to throw wet blankets on investor optimism that the peak in the current interest rate ballooning might be a lot lower than initially feared.

There’s still a lot of chatter about how we’re all going to die of Recession Fever (symptoms include massive headaches, missing funds and sharp stabbing pains in the rectum), despite strong US labor market figures and US President Joe Biden’s insistence that there is no recession, and that the voices in his head have finally stopped singing the entire score of Hamilton.

As we end the trading day, commodities are all still in the bin, with natural gas rising a smidgen (-1.84%) while the needle hasn’t budged for oil (-0.6%).

Metals have improved but could really be trying harder, still down for the day. Gold is at (-0.07%), silver’s still down (-0.14%) and copper remains lower at -0.24%.

On the gold front, there is some breaking news out of Chile – Austral Gold (ASX:AGD) says a group of armed robbers “assaulted the Guanaco-Amancaya mine complex and stole gold precipitate material equivalent to approximately 500 ounces of gold”.

To be clear – the robbers have stolen an enormous pile of dirt that still requires refining, so this is either a bold strategically-planned heist by someone who has ready access to a refinery, or we’re looking at an armed robbery of near-Florida levels of gross stupidity.

But just in case you were wondering, Reuben’s got something here to help get your head around what happens with stolen gold.

The only Top Dollar winner on the charts this morning is Stanmore Resources (ASX:SMR), which fired off a double-barrel blast of good news that sent its price up more than 10% before lunch.

Stanmore led out with a robust half-year results call which included a Consolidated half year Run Of Mine (ROM) production of 3.9Mt and saleable production of 2.8Mt, helping it to an enviable net debt of US$258 million with cash position of US$546 million.

That was followed by news that its wholly owned subsidiary, Dampier Coal, is set to acquire Mitsui’s remaining 20% stake in Stanmore SMC, which will give Stanmore complete ownership of the project after its purchase of an 80% interest in BHP Mitsui Coal in May this year.

Top of the Big Time Loser charts is Domino’s (ASX:DMP), which slumped 5.0% this morning.

There’s no clear reason why, but we suspect it might have something to do with the fact that the company has officially declared its bold experiment to sell awful pizzas in Italy, of all places, to be over.

Domino’s has shuttered its Italian operation, and frankly we’re surprised that its employees haven’t died in a hail of angry meatballs on their way to the airport.

Investors will no doubt be keeping a close eye on the company’s next rumoured move, selling ice cubes to Eskimos after it cornered 100% of basic material supply from Mumbai’s stormwater drains.

And it looks like the run for Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) is over – after a massive run from $0.605 in mid-July to a high of $1.595 yesterday, profit takers look to have moved in and knocked the wind out of its sails, down 7.0% and falling this morning.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for August 12 [intraday]:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

InhalerX went on a post-lunch rocket ride on absolutely no news, shooting up the chart like a gunslinger sheriff in a bad guy saloon. It’s a 46.8% jump in under 4 hours without an ASX announcement… so we’re expecting a few sinister side-eyes from the watchdog.

This morning’s surge for Magnis Energy Technologies (ASX:MNS) has tempered somewhat, after it climbed 35.6% on news that commercial production has commenced at its 22,000sqm  iM3NY New York Lithium-ion Battery Plant.

At full capacity, Magnis says the plant will churn out 15,000 cells/day using green hydroelectricity, as production scales up to an annual production rate of 1.8GWh near-term and aiming at annual capacity of 38GWh by 2030.

The gloss came off a little as the afternoon wore on, but Magnis is still on track for a +25% bump for the day.

Also enjoying some time in the sun, Havilah Resources (ASX:HAV) has signed a Terms Sheet with Oz Minerals (ASX:OZL) granting an option for OZ to buy Havilah’s Kalkaroo copper-gold-cobalt project, sending HAV shares up 21.4%.

Dropping sharply, however, was med-tech minnow Avita Medical (ASX:AVH), on news that topline results from its pivotal randomised, controlled trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of its RECELL skin graft system fell juuuust short of requirements.

It’s not a total disaster, but it was enough to shake investor confidence by -15.6%, pretty much where it levelled off in the lead-up to lunch.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the grimmest performing ASX small cap stocks for July 29 [intraday]:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

 

WHAT YOU MAY’VE MISSED

There is some super juicy goss from FinTech Chain (ASX:FTC) this afternoon, following a mystery trading halt in late July and a voluntary suspension of trading on 01 August.

While FinTech was prepping quarterly financial review, there was much consternation as it became clear that there were some a irregularities.

It turns out that a subsidiary company, ‘Shenzhen Tao-taogu Information Technology Co. Ltd’ (TTG)had been affected by some unidentified and unusual transactions, and an investigation soon revealed that someone at TTG has had their hand in the till.

FTC is missing RMB 12,713,572 (AUD $2,660,029 1) for the quarter, which is not a small chunk of change.

The good news for FTC is that the person responsible has been identified, has confessed and is currently in police custody. The bad news for the person responsible is that they were identified, confessed and they’re currently in police custody.

 

TRADING HALTS

Metgasco (ASX:MEL) – Metgasco has a mystery transaction in the works, and we’re heading  for a classic Friday Cliffhanger, with the whole weekend to wonder what the Gassy is plotting.

Novatti Group (ASX:NOV) – Novatti’s gonna tell us on Monday about a corporate bond issue, which is like a James Bond issue, with a lot fewer supervillains.

NSX (ASX:NSX) – capital raising, possibly to go shopping for new tyres before the next instalment of Tokyo Drift comes out.

Elmore (ASX:ELE) – Elmore is having a fund raising, while Elmo is plotting to rob the Sesame Street bank. Who’s gonna score the biggest? Tune in next week to find out…

Gascoyne Resources (ASX:GCY) – Drill assay results from the Gascoyne’s Gilbey’s North discovery, on the heels of positive news from Gilbey’s East and Gilbey’s South. Some good news from the West and Gilbey’s gonna be the happiest man in the mine.

MOQ (ASX:MOQ) – Really? Another one? The ASX waits with bated breath to see if Atturra – finally – has made MOQ an offer it can’t refuse.

Hydrix (ASX:HYD) – Hydrix has news about its AngelMed Guardian Device, which recently got a Big Fat Tick from the US FDA… could be juicy!

And that’s it from us at Stockhead for the week.

Thanks so much for reading allll the way to the bottom of the page.

Have a great weekend, come see us if you just can’t relax and worry about money too much.

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