Lunchtime ASX small cap wrap: who’s celebrating a little early

The ASX Small Ords was up 0.17 per cent or 5 points at 2,853 by 1pm AEST.

GOING UP

Benitec Biopharma (ASX:BLT) doubled in price this morning after achieving the holy grail for biotechs: a licensing deal, this time for its oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy drug.

The potentially $US187.5 million deal sent its share price rocketing 103 per cent to an intraday high of 29.5c on Monday morning before cooling to 24c by 12.15pm AEST.

About $800,000 worth of shares changed hands by midday.

Benitec gets $US10 million upfront, $US17.5 million once manufacturing, regulatory and clinical milestones are met, and 30 per cent of profits.

Microcap explorer AuStar Gold (ASX:AUL) jumped 40 per cent after showing off a picture of visible gold found at its Victorian Rose of Denmark mine 20km north of its main Morning Star project.

AuStar Gold chief Tom de Vries told investors: “The recent diamond drilling at Rose of Denmark has
consistently produced high-gold grade assay [test] results with visible gold and as a result our expectation is to be able to mine profitably.”

“Prior to Austar’s recent drilling program, the mine had almost no modern exploration and presents a great opportunity for us.”

The stock moved from 0.5c to 0.7c in early Monday trade with about $77,000 of shares changing hands.

Eden Innovations (ASX:EDE) gained 28 per cent after signing a deal to develop and sell its high-tech EdenCrete concrete in Korea.

EdenCrete is a carbon-strengthened concrete additive used to make stronger roads, bridges and highrise buildings.

Eden will work with Korea-listed precast concrete maker KC Industry to jointly develop EdenCrete enriched concrete, mortar and grout.

The stock rose from last week’s close of 5.6c to an intraday high of 7.2c in early trade.

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GOING DOWN

Customer analytics play Kyckr (ASX:KYK) fell 12 per cent to 15c today after telling investors customer receipts had dropped 7 per cent this quarter.

In its fourth quarter report, the regulatory technology company said receipts dipped to $475,000 from $510,000 in the prior quarter.

Revenue also fell by 12.5 per cent. It said in April they said the March quarter revenue was a record high.

Kyckr provides know-your-customer software that automates financial background checking processes when approving new customers, and ongoing monitoring of existing customers. It means problems like illegal activity can be picked up quickly.