Last Orders: What you might have missed on the ASX today

Small cap companies have dipped modestly on the second-to-last trading day of the year, in line with a small decline in the overall market.

The Small Ordinaries index of 100 small-cap companies finished Wednesday down 9.9 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 3,119.4, following three straight days of strong gains.

The ASX200 was down 17.9 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 6,682.4, while the Emerging Companies index of nano-cap companies dipped 0.35 per cent to 1,933.3.

Most sectors were down, save energy, materials and consumer staples, which edged higher. Utilities and tech companies were the biggest drag, both collectively falling 1.6 per cent.

Uranium companies mostly continued their gains from yesterday on news the US would establish a strategic uranium reserve, with Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE) up 22.2 per cent to 1.1c, Peninsula Energy (ASX:PEN) rising 9.1 per cent to 12c and Vimy Resources (ASX:VMY) climbing 9.4 per cent to 7c.

Australia’s largest uranium miner, Energy Resources of Australia (ASX:ERA), rose 19.2 per cent to a two-year high of 31c.

Integrated Research (ASX:IRI) was among the bigger losers, falling 13.3 per cent to $2.62 after the payment system monitoring company downgraded its revenue forecasts for the second time in a fortnight.

The company now expects first-half revenue of $34 million to $37 million, down from the $41 million to $47 million predicted on December 18.

Announcements

– Rewardle Holdings (ASX:RXH) was flat at 0.9c after the cloud-based consumer rewards platform reported it had received a $573,927 tax refund from the federal government for research and development work.

– Imricor Medical Systems (ASX:IMR) gained 0.4 per cent to $2.30 after the US-based MRI-compatible cardiac catheter ablation devicemaker announced that a second wave of COVID-19 cases in Europe had been worse than anticipated, delaying sales to clinics in Germany and the Netherlands.

– State Gas (ASX:GAS) dropped 5.1 per cent to 56c after the Brisbane-based gas explorer announced that drilling had begun at its Nyanda-8 well in central Queensland. Drilling had reached 248 metres at 7am, with gas detected from 151 metres.

– Red River Resources (ASX:RVR) rose 11.5 per cent to 29c after the Melbourne-based goldminer announced processing had begun at its Hillgrove Gold Operation near Armidale in NSW.  The workforce there has increased to more than 50 and the first ore was processed at the site yesterday.

– Cooper Energy (ASX:COE) dropped 1.3 per cent to 37c after confirming that the long-term gas sales agreements from its Sole gas field off the coast of Victoria would commence January 1. But the company also disclosed more issues at the Orbost Gas Processing Plant that processes the gas that have impaired its performance.

– Exopharm (ASX:EX1) responded to an ASX price and volume query after its shares spikes from 32.5c yesterday to as high as 54c early this morning. The company said it had no explanation for the price jump beyond a December 22 announcement noting recent achievements and highlighting that the only other listed pure-play exosome company worldwide is Codiak (NASDAQ:CDAK), which has a market capitalisation of around $400 million. Exopharm shares closed down 7.1 per cent to 46c.

Trading halts

Thursday:

Ultima United (ASX:ULL) – capital raising & development project
The Agency Group (ASX:AU1) – finance documentation
IODM (ASX:IOD) – capital raising

Monday:

Allegiance Coal (ASX:AHQ) – response to ASX query