The ASX 200 index has surprisingly lifted at the halfway point, even after a global equities sell-off in the US and Europe overnight.

At lunch Wednesday, the index points to an increase of 0.73 per cent.

Ten out of 11 sectors lifted, led by the healthcare sector, with IT the only sector to have fallen after a tech stocks rout on Wall Street.

In the IT sector, Afterpay (ASX:APT) was the biggest under-performer, falling by 3 per cent on no news.

Leading the charge in the healthcare sector was CSL (ASX:CSL), which rose by almost 3 per cent after the company presented an update on plasmas, an important part of its business, at the Macquarie Conference.

The company admitted that plasma collections have been adversely affected by the pandemic, but has taken steps to increase the intake.

Another large cap performer today was QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE), which surprisingly rose by almost 4 per cent after its AGM, after recent lacklustre performances.

Geospatial tech company, Nearmap (ASX:NEA), was put into a self-imposed trading halt, after rising by almost 15 per cent, pending further announcement.

The small caps segment was mainly trading sideways today, with the S&P/ASX SMALL ORDINARIES (ASX:XSO) rising by just 0.01%.

The micro caps segment, S&P/ASX EMERGING COMPANIES INDEX (ASX:XEC), fell by 0.67 per cent.

Below are the winners and losers in today’s small caps, at the halfway point.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small caps this morning:

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

Resources dominated the proceedings for small caps this morning.

Classic Minerals (ASX:CLZ) came back strongly, rising by 50 per cent, after a self-imposed trading halt yesterday. The company announced key milestones at its Kat Gap Gold Project, with a new mining lease being granted by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. The lease will initially be valid for 21 years from 22 April 2021 to 22 April 2042.

Great Boulder (ASX:GBR) rose by 36 per cent after it reported further gold exploration results at Mulga Bill, such as 6m at 31.2g/t including 1m at 136g/t.

Meanwhile, White Cliff (ASX:WCN) and Carnegie Clean Energy (ASX:CCE) rose by around 30 per cent each on no specific news.

 

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small caps this morning:

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

Wordpress Table Plugin

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