Remember the outrage about a Sydney Ferry being called Ferry McFerry Face? It was a cringeworthy name, not the least because the joke had already been done many times around the world.

The original gag belonged to an owl named Hooty McOwlface back in 2012, but ramped up in 2016 when UK japesters tried to name a public research vessel Boaty McBoatface.

It got 124,000 votes while “Sir David Attenborough” only got 11,000. Of course, the stuffy Poms went for the Sir David option – but the name “Boaty McBoatface” went to a yellow submarine onboard the ship. And Boaty has been doing its job.

Boaty undertook its first expedition into Antarctica earlier this year and its findings were published in an academic journal earlier this week. It found that Antarctic winds are causing turbulence in the sea and the mixture of warm water with cold water is causing the water temperature to rise.

Bottom line? Perhaps it doesn’t matter what a ship is called, so long as it does its job.

Our markets are up again today. The ASX Small Ords has risen by 0.66 per cent (19 points) to 2892. Despite people hoping for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve being disappointed, they are hopeful it might come the next time they’ll meet.

US Fed chair Jerome Powell said he was “prepared to move” on interest rates and also he fully intended to serve his full term despite talk that President Trump is investigating demoting or firing him.

Going up

People hate bacteria, but particularly ‘super bugs’, which is a word for bacteria resistant to most anti-bacteria drugs. But Botanix Pharma (ASX: BOT) announced its skin cream – key ingredient marijuana – looks
strong enough to fight
them. Botanix is up 18 per cent today.

Tempo Australia (ASX: TPP) has risen 40 per cent after announcing a $5.8 million dollar contract with CBH Group to build and install weightbridges at eight sites.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at lunchtime, Thursday June 20:

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Code Name Price % Chg Market Cap Volume
AKN Auking Mining Ltd 0.002 +100.00% $1.9M 632.0k
CAV Carnavale Resources Ltd 0.003 +50.00% $2.2M 303.6k
EMP Emperor Energy Ltd 0.003 +50.00% $3.1M 250.0k
LCY Legacy Iron Ore Ltd 0.003 +50.00% $4.4M 1.3M
POD Podium Minerals Ltd 0.1 +46.15% $9.3M 10.0k
TPP Tempo Australia Ltd 0.06 +39.53% $15.7M 273.5k
RIM Rimfire Pacific Mining NL 0.004 +33.33% $4.3M 617.0k
EVE EVE Investments Ltd 0.0065 +30.00% $14.4M 33.9M
SYT Syntonic Ltd 0.0025 +25.00% $8.2M 1.6M
RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp Ltd 0.005 +25.00% $2.0M 100.0k
CSV CSG Ltd 0.16 +23.08% $71.3M 2.0M
CZR Coziron Resources Ltd 0.011 +22.22% $19.6M 240.0k
ARE Argonaut Resources NL 0.006 +20.00% $9.3M 1.4M
MTH Mithril Resources Ltd 0.006 +20.00% $2.5M 400.0k
OXX Octanex Ltd 0.006 +20.00% $1.6M 222.0k
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.003 +20.00% $15.6M 669.0k
AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.0012 +20.00% $7.8M 841.2k
AGE Alligator Energy Ltd 0.003 +20.00% $3.0M 666.7k
QGL Quantum Graphite Ltd 0.003 +20.00% $23.0M 500.0k
RXL Rox Resources Ltd/Australia 0.013 +18.18% $16.4M 23.9M
OKR Okapi Resources Ltd 0.13 +18.18% $4.5M 23.6k
BOT Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd 0.17 +17.86% $131.4M 29.4M
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Going down

Phosphate miner Avenira (ASX: AEV) fell off the back of no news but then announced a trading halt to last until Monday. Its last news was last week when it announced it was discussing short-term funding but could provide no guarantee it would be successful.

One large cap was a big faller today. Caltex (ASX: CTX) fell 18 per cent after announcing a profit downgrade – 50 per cent less than the corresponding period last year.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at lunchtime, Thursday June 20:

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Code Name Price % Chg Market Cap Volume
IDZ Indoor Skydiving Australia Ltd 0.01 -26.67% $1.5M 50.0k
SMD Syndicated Metals Ltd 0.003 -25.00% $2.0M 50.0k
UTR Ultracharge Ltd 0.002 -20.00% $2.1M 300.0k
RFN Reffind Ltd 0.004 -20.00% $2.1M 16.7k
OVL Oro Verde Ltd 0.002 -20.00% $3.1M 300.0k
MNC Metminco Ltd 0.002 -20.00% $2.4M 250.0k
MGT Magnetite Mines Ltd 0.004 -20.00% $3.2M 4.0M
ARU Arafura Resources Ltd 0.097 -0.232 $76.6M 25.3M
IHR intelliHR Holdings Ltd 0.08 -19.00% $11.1M 71.2k
CTX Caltex Australia Ltd 21.95 -18.64% $5.5B 3.7M
VAL Valor Resources Ltd 0.005 -16.67% $9.5M 589.3k
DTM Dart Mining NL 0.005 -16.67% $5.1M 5.1M
BLY Boart Longyear Ltd 0.005 -16.67% $131.5M 64.2k
MZN Marindi Metals Ltd 0.0025 -16.67% $5.3M 50.0k
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.006 -14.29% $5.5M 15.4k
WWI West Wits Mining Ltd 0.006 -14.29% $4.8M 1.1M
AEV Avenira Ltd 0.006 -14.29% $6.4M 2.6M
AAU Adcorp Australia Ltd 0.006 -14.29% $2.7M 22.3k
DCL DomaCom Ltd 0.1 -13.04% $14.5M 36.7k
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