Small caps have been unable to sustain a further push into 12-year-high territory amid losses by the mining and energy sectors.

The Small Ordinaries finished Wednesday down 25.5 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 3,155.3, its worst single-day loss since January 11.

Larger companies didn’t do that much better, with the ASX100 index of Australia’s biggest 100 companies falling 0.64 per cent and the ASX200 benchmark index down 0.65 per cent.

The Emerging Companies index of nano-cap companies dropped 0.5 per cent to 2,123.3.

The mining and energy sectors were both down more than three per cent on a fall in commodity prices, while the tech and consumer staples sectors rose.

Renascor Resources (ASX:RNU) was among the biggest gainers, rising 50 per cent to 4.2c after announcing it had entered into an offtake agreement to provide purified spherical graphite to a Chinese battery anode company.

AMA Group (ASX:AMA) plunged 14.2 per cent to 63.5c after the automotive smash repair company said it was involved in a controversy involving its chief executive, Andrew Hopkins.

The company said Hopkins has obtained a temporary Federal Court order preventing it from firing him, following a recently completed “forensic investigation” into allegations made by an employee.

AMA didn’t disclose the nature of the allegations and said it would have no further comment.

Genetic Signatures (ASX:GSS) dropped 1.5 per cent to $1.96 despite receiving approval to market its 3base sexually transmitted infection test in the European Union and the UK.

The company expects to receive clearance from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration to market the test in Australia “soon”.

Nitro Software (ASX:NTO) climbed 7.2 per cent to $3.28 after the PDF software company announced it had beaten fourth-quarter revenue forecasts with annual recurring revenue at year-end of $US27.7 million ($35.8 million), up 64 per cent from a year ago.

King River Resources (ASX:KRR) dropped 7.7 per cent to 3.6c despite announcing the discovery of a new high-grade gold project at its Mount Remarkable Project in Western Australia.

MinRex Resources (ASX:MRR) announced it had signed a joint venture and farm-in agreement with Wattle Resources in relation to its mining permit EL7974 in NSW’s East Lachlan Fold Belt.

MinRex has three years to earn a 51 per cent interest in the mining permit by spending $750,000 on exploration, the company said.

Trading halts

Thursday: 

Kopore Metals (ASX:KMT) – acquisition
Skin Elements (ASX:SKN) – update to option underwriting agreement
Minbos Resources (ASX:MNB) – investment contract update
Strategic Energy Resources (ASX:SER) – capital raising
Perpetual Resources (ASX:PEC) – metallurgical results
King River Resources (ASX:KRR) – exploration results

Friday: 

Mithril Resources (ASX:MTH) – capital raising
Range International (ASX:RAN) – capital raising
Triangle Energy (ASX:TEG) – capital raising
Lachlan Star (ASX:LSA) – capital raising
Key Petroleum (ASX:KEY) – asset disposal

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Minrex Resources is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

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