Lunchtime ASX small cap wrap: Who’s ‘sleighin’ it today?

Merry Xmas Eve folks. It’s time to finish (or start) gift shopping and prepare thy stomach for the impending food/drink tsunami.

Yesterday, US markets hit a new all-time record high after China’s Ministry of Finance said it would lower tariffs effective January 1 on 859 products ranging from frozen pork and smartphones to some types of semiconductors.

It’s been a nice change of pace from last year’s final quarter bloodbath, which saw markets fall off the proverbial cliff.

But wait—there’s myrrh.

The ASX Small Ords (which gauges the health of the smaller end of the market) mirrored US markets, gaining about 12.4 points to 2,914.3 points by 11:30am Sydney time.

The index is currently up ~21.43 per cent over the past 12 months.

And a reminder: ASX closes at 2.10pm AEDT today, prior to the Christmas Day and Boxing Day holidays. We’ll see you in a few days.

GOING UP

Rox Resources (ASX:RXL) is up +20 per cent in morning trade after confirming a shallow, high-grade gold discovery called ‘Grace’ at the historic Youanmi gold project in WA.

Godolphin Resources (ASX:GRL) is enjoying a strong start to listed life. The NSW copper-gold porphyry explorer — which hit the boards on December 18 — is up 26 per cent this morning to 26c per share.

Like other explorers in the region, the Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL) spinout has benefited from the buzz surrounding Alkane Resources’ massive porphyry discovery at Boda.

READ: Ardea will launch IPO spin-out of NSW assets

And what’s up with Finnish gold explorer S2 Resources (ASX:S2R)? The cashed up, Mark Creasy-backed explorer is currently up 30 per cent in morning trade on no news. Merry Christmas indeed.

READ: S2 Resources’ Mark Bennett on the secret recipe to finding big deposits

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Tuesday December 24:

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

GOING DOWN

Another sneaky last minute market update, this time from electric vehicle charging-focused Rectifier Technologies (ASX:RFT).

The company says an exclusive 12-month supply and purchase period with customer Tritium will not be extended.

Rectifier says “it is not anticipated that the ceasing of exclusivity under this agreement will have a negative impact on company sales”, but the stock still fell 12 per cent in morning trade.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Tuesday December 24:

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