Lunchtime ASX small cap wrap: Who’s got the bear by the tooth today?

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‘Sad Guys on Trading Floors’ is gallows humour for the recession.

These guys have been making light of a “terrifying financial crisis” on-and-off since 2008 — the dark days of the GFC — with traffic periodically spiking when markets take a sustained hit.

US markets plunged again on Wednesday after the World Health Organisation upgraded COVID-19 to ‘global pandemic’ status, making it the first official bear market since the financial crisis.

A bear market is when an index closes 20 per cent or more below its most recent closing high.

There were silver linings though with more indications that business in China, the birthplace of COVID-19, is already ramping back up again.

Stocks worldwide lost ground despite stimulus efforts to soften the economic blow of the virus. In Australia, the federal government is launching its own Kevin Rudd-style cash splash, unveiling an initial economic stimulus package which could be worth up $20bn.

By about 12pm the ASX200 was down 2.78 per cent to 5,558 points — a ~22 per cent drop from its late February highs.

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday March 12:

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

FAMILY ZONE CYBER SAFETY (ASX:FZO) +35%

The web safety platform said it’s now bringing in annual recurring revenues of more than $2m from its US operations.

Investors appeared to be impressed with some other strong metrics around the sales figure, which was achieved within 12 months and a four-person sales team.

The company added that it’s well-positioned to benefit from pending changes stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, where school districts will be required to explore home-schooling solutions.

BIOTRON (ASX:BIT) +13%

The biotech says its drug may restore immune functions in HIV patients — which means these patients may not need to stay on anti-HIV drugs for life.

In 2018, Biotron’s BIT225 was shown to have an impact on patients with HIV-1 — the most common and infectious variety of HIV.

The company has spent much of its time ever since preparing for a phase three clinical trial, as well as pre-clinical programs for other diseases including the coronavirus.

Also spiking 60 per cent on no news was Alterity Therapeutics (ASX:ATH), which was granted ‘orphan drug status’ for the treatment of Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) by the European Commission back in January.

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Thursday March 12:

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

RED 5 (ASX:RED) -25%

The gold producer now expects March quarter production to be lower than expected; 20,000-22,000oz compared to previous guidance of between 25,000-29,000oz.

Full-year production will also be impacted. Costs are also on the high side, with the company expecting March quarter and full-year all in sustaining costs of $1,800-$1,950/oz and $1,550-$1,600/oz respectively.

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