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.)

Pic: The Guardian

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
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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”.