March Winners Column: Oil is FINALLY on the boil

March got off to a rough start, with ASX small caps suffering their worst week since October and the Small Ords Index falling into the red on the year.

But it got better.

US punters received another stimmy cheque in the mail from President Biden. Beleaguered global airline and travel stocks started climbing again as the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines ramped up worldwide.

(Scomo whiffed on his original timeline, but reckons we’re back on track.)

The nascent global recovery was also a boon to battered oil and gas prices, which got another leg-up when a container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, causing disruption to global supplies.

Crypto was red hot. Bitcoin hit $US61,000, dropped to ~$US51,000, then climbed to finish the month at ~$US58,000.

The market for something called ‘non fungible tokens’ (NFT) went mental.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet—sold for $US2.9m — joined a growing collection of assets that are now (or soon to be) NFTs, including a 10-second video clip of Donald Trump (which sold for US$6.6 million), the next Kings of Leon album, and a US$69.3 million artwork. Ridiculous.

The benchmark ASX 200 index finished the month up 1.76% which means the Aussie market has now climbed for 6 straight months.

Here are the top 50 small caps for the month of March>>>

Scroll or swipe to reveal table. Click headings to sort. Best viewed on a laptop

CODE	COMPANY	MONTHLY RETURN %	SECTOR	PRICE	MARKET CAP
88E	88 Energy	667	Energy	0.069	$ 863,989,739.74
ONE	Oneview Healthcare	349	Health	0.395	$ 157,126,218.92
ASO	Aston Minerals	211	Resources	0.115	$ 100,245,204.34
ROG	Red Sky Energy	200	Energy	0.009	$ 41,412,799.77
MCX	Mariner Corp	150	Financial	0.09	$ 4,324,789.98
KP2	Kore Potash	144	Resources	0.039	$ 10,224,973.75
IDT	IDT Australia	141	Health	0.445	$ 106,906,650.48
DW8	Digital Wine Ventures	135	Consumer	0.155	$ 257,811,391.97
MGT	Magnetite Mines	109	Resources	0.048	$ 137,251,808.02
QEM	QEM Limited	105	Resources	0.18	$ 18,000,000.00
LEX	Lefroy Exploration	102	Resources	1.26	$ 150,612,132.09
APG	Austpac Resources	100	Resources	0.003	$ 9,496,988.87
ECT	Env Clean Tech	100	Industrial	0.002	$ 19,202,065.57
PCL	Pancontinental Oil	100	Energy	0.003	$ 18,020,146.46
PVL	Powerhouse Ventures	94	Financial	0.155	$ 10,016,637.23
INV	Investsmart Group	92	Financial	0.175	$ 24,231,818.63
IVZ	Invictus Energy	86	Energy	0.16	$ 88,020,336.16
ACW	Actinogen Medical	86	Health	0.039	$ 64,761,783.33
BRK	Brookside Energy	82	Energy	0.02	$ 33,033,171.86
RNU	Renascor Resources	80	Energy	0.11	$ 183,239,081.74
YPB	YPB Group	75	Tech	0.0035	$ 17,471,371.81
AVR	Anteris Technologies	72	Health	12.24	$ 80,402,895.36
G88	Golden Mile Resources	69	Resources	0.083	$ 11,538,521.22
VAN	Vango Mining	69	Resources	0.086	$ 88,864,470.89
PRL	Province Resources	67	Resources	0.13	$ 114,945,108.85
MOC	Mortgage Choice	64	Financial	1.92	$ 239,995,084.80
VIA	Viagold Rare Earths	64	Resources	0.082	$ 6,831,617.13
RLT	Renergen Limited	62	Energy	2.73	$ 47,206,250.91
AVW	Avira Resources	60	Resources	0.008	$ 11,000,320.00
ATR	Astron Corp	57	Resources	0.36	$ 44,091,748.08
TPD	Talon Petroleum	56	Energy	0.007	$ 38,600,464.18
ENA	Ensurance	55	Financial	0.031	$ 17,699,643.19
ENX	Enegex Limited	54	Energy	0.091	$ 13,076,873.26
ADY	Admiralty Resources	53	Resources	0.023	$ 26,660,098.08
TTA	TTA Holdings	52	Financial	0.041	$ 5,634,359.81
MAN	Mandrake Resources	52	Resources	0.135	$ 46,335,255.66
ARC	Aust Rural Cap	51	Financial	0.265	$ 3,945,366.64
BSM	Bass Metals	50	Resources	0.009	$ 36,195,081.62
CAE	Cannindah Resources	50	Resources	0.042	$ 13,813,043.20
BAS	Bass Oil	50	Energy	0.003	$ 10,026,420.29
DTR	Dateline Resources	50	Resources	0.003	$ 26,220,234.23
NPM	Newpeak Metals	50	Resources	0.003	$ 17,022,483.89
PBX	Pacific Bauxite	50	Resources	0.003	$ 1,189,842.10
SAN	Sagalio Energy	48	Energy	0.037	$ 7,572,424.81
CTT	Cettire	48	Consumer	1.41	$ 535,639,699.10
NAG	Nagambie Resources	47	Resources	0.081	$ 40,494,520.03
XAM	Xanadu Mines	47	Resources	0.069	$ 75,337,065.02
CLV	Clover Corporation	46	Resources	1.85	$ 306,842,141.88
RLG	Roolife Group	46	Consumer	0.035	$ 20,290,483.96
ALG	Ardent Leisure Group	46	Consumer	0.925	$ 443,728,064.80

Cookin’ with gas

Oil and gas plays dominated last month’s Top 50.

On March 10, pro investor James Whelan told Stockhead he was excited about energy as a key winner in ‘the great global reopening’.

“If you don’t own Brookside (ASX:BRK) (+82%) right now, then you should probably have a really good look at it,” he said.

“It’s a perfect representation of where I’m investing. Oil prices are going up and gas is going up, and I’m rotating into energy.”

Brookside was joined by #1 mover 88 Energy (ASX:88E) (+667%) in our Top 50, as well as:

High flying hydrogen

Green is the new gold, and companies know it.

QEM (ASX:QEM) (+105%) was one of many ASX exploration plays to ride the hype, announcing plans to study “green hydrogen opportunities” at its Julia Creek vanadium and oil shale project in Queensland.

Joining them in the March top 50 was Province Resources (ASX:PRL), now up 600% since announcing plans to acquire an industrial minerals and green hydrogen project in Feb.

Additional multi-bag standouts

Oneview Health (ASX:ONE) has soared since entering into an investor awareness agreement with StocksDigital, the publisher of nextinvestors.com, wise-owl.com and catalysthunter.com.

Next Investors recommended Oneview on March 12 as its “Technology Pick of the Year for 2021”, emailing subscribers that this was “the most undervalued company we have seen in ages”.

Aston Minerals (ASX:ASO), formerly European Cobalt, changed name and ticker after purchasing the Edleston project in Canada, where +$10.8m had already been spent on drilling and geophysics by previous owners.

Maiden drilling hit visible gold at 362m depth, sending the stock up 211% for the month.

Digital Wine Ventures (ASX:DW8) was up another 135% last month, for a whopping ~1500% gain over the past 12 months.

The online booze reseller struck deals with eBay and Bibendum Wine Co, “one of Australia’s most successful fine wine and beverage distribution businesses”.