CLOSING BELL: Another day, another battle as two tribes go to Warrego

The ASX tracks lower to finished the week with a whimper
Stokes v Hancock set to finally figure out how the west was won
Zenith pulls the pin just days out from Mackerel IPO

The ASX has snapped its winning streak today, finishing Friday 0.72% lower thanks to a flagging Energy sector and distinct lack of absurd Small Caps mooners going zooming into space.

Health Care (+1.32%) and Telcos (+0.98%) were the day’s only real winners, after both Energy (-2.61%) and Real Estate (-2.27%) combined to give everyone a bit of end-of-the-week indigestion and drag us all into the gloom.

Just in time for the weekend, guys. Thanks heaps for that.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE NEIGHBOURS?

Well… yeah. About them. It would seem that the murky dismals have set in right throughout the region today.

Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.76%, Hong Kong’s down 0.66% and Shanghai’s dipped 0.34% – thanks in no small part to ongoing hassles throughout China over Covid restrictions, mass protests and a general “to be honest, we’re not completely sure how that’s all going to pan out” sentiment across Asian markets.

The US is having its own issues as well – contrasting data combined to put Wall Street into “take indecisive action” mode overnight, and the looming industrial action from railway workers took a critical hit as well.

The Senate voted 80-15 in favour of an agreement brokered by the Biden Administration in September, which includes a 24% pay rise for the workers – but a separate vote that would have granted them sick leave was knocked back. By a *lot*.

The paid sick leave for rail workers just failed. Majority of workers want it. Majority of Americans support it. Majority of senators vote for it. Doesn’t pass. This country isn’t remotely a democracy. pic.twitter.com/jXURVdmOtK

— Mac (@GoodPoliticGuy) December 1, 2022

Thank you, random US Socialist person, for that particular hot take on how things have gone down.

It’s a case of hurry-up-and-wait to see whether the four major rail unions that have been rattling their sabres about industrial action on 9 December are prepared to forge ahead with those plans.

But given that Congress has effectively said “This is what you’re getting, because now it’s the law”, any industrial action is now technically illegal, and that means that the bunfight is only going to get worse if the unions don’t cave.

AND NOW, THE LOCAL NEWS

There’s a war brewing in the West, and it’s got all the hallmarks of being a belter – Kerry Stokes is going head-to-head against Australia’s Richest Person, Gina Reinhart – but this time, it’s got nothing to do with Netball.

The prize is Warrego Energy (ASX:WGO) – which Stokes’ Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) dropped a smooth 20c per share bid for a little while back that was enough for the Warrego board to say “Sold!” and recommend it be taken up.

Enter Ms Reinhart, who sauntered into the saloon with a 23c per share offer that threw the Stokes bid into chaos, and valued the company at $280 million – and had the sound of a leather duelling glove being applied with hefty velocity against the cheek of Stokes ricocheting off the walls.

Which brings us to today – and Beach has upped its bid to 25c (Warrego value: ~$305 million) to push Hancock Prospecting’s bid off the table.

Except that Hancock has bounced back swinging with a 28c per share bid, neatly fulfilling our prediction for a spectacular bidding war.

Now, given that both combatants are very much not short of a quid, this could turn into something of a spectacle – and the idea of a Super-Heavyweight money fight is always a juicy prospect.

Meanwhile, Warrego must be entirely delighted by all this, because the board had already recommended shareholders accept Beach’s original offer at 20c a share.

Everything from here on in is essentially gravy. #ThickAndRich.

There are a few other bits of news from the diggers, which you can catch over in Last Orders – but for now, let’s look at who’s won and who hasn’t in our beloved Small Caps market.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

CODE	COMPANY	PRICE	% TODAY	VOLUME	MARKET CAP
PRM	Prominence Energy	0.0015	50%	3,483	$2,424,609
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.004	33%	3,568,483	$5,871,176
APC	Aust Potash Ltd	0.023	28%	7,931,378	$16,618,845
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.007	27%	2,082,857	$12,160,708
MFD	Mayfield Childcr Ltd	1.215	26%	474,707	$63,026,760
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.01	25%	1,550,115	$3,650,959
DUB	Dubber Corp Ltd	0.445	24%	2,593,406	$110,357,056
MMA	Maronanmetalslimited	0.285	21%	512,601	$17,625,002
ARR	American Rare Earths	0.24	20%	6,415,780	$88,876,160
PKD	Parkd Ltd	0.024	20%	25,092	$2,004,003
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.003	20%	960,000	$3,543,813
LCL	Los Cerros Limited	0.051	19%	12,534,109	$30,775,691
AUC	Ausgold Limited	0.052	18%	7,266,083	$89,296,880
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.046	18%	264,991	$4,032,721
TOR	Torque Met	0.2	18%	23,236	$10,730,392
ZEO	Zeotech Limited	0.047	18%	2,332,851	$65,628,227
POL	Polymetals Resources	0.245	17%	84,935	$8,648,365
TOY	Toys R Us	0.035	17%	3,145,474	$25,892,600
VTI	Vision Tech Inc	0.35	17%	11,053	$9,398,731
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.0035	17%	6,380,527	$6,401,370
DCX	Discovex Res Ltd	0.0035	17%	697,250	$9,907,704
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.007	17%	199,998	$7,463,217
E2M	E2 Metals	0.18	16%	954,140	$30,865,510
WR1	Winsome Resources	1.275	16%	4,944,488	$153,111,223
BDT	Birddog	0.185	16%	4,062	$32,738,462

Not much has changed from lunchtime, where we reported that there’s plenty to cheer about for Mayfield Childcare (ASX:MFD), which has shot up 25.9% after announcing that it’s received an unsolicited, indicative, conditional and non-binding proposal from Genius Education Holdings for an outright purchase at $1.28 cash per share.

Mayfield says it’s been swatting away potential suitors for a while now, but the offer from Genius “represented the highest offer price from the Proposals received and had the least conditions attached to completion”.

“As such, the Mayfield Board determined that, given the current share price and market conditions, it is in the best interests of Mayfield shareholders to allow Genius to proceed with its due diligence investigations and for the Board to engage further with Genius on an exclusive basis to progress the Genius Proposal,” the company says.

Prior to the announcement, Mayfield was at $0.965 – so the Genius play is at a significant premium. At least, it was – Mayfield’s at $1.24 already so far since the announcement was made.

Also making waves this morning (outside of the Penny Dreadfuls) is Dubber (ASX:DUB), which has had a difficult time of things of late, including some disastrous financial reporting that saw more than $18 million in revenue effectively written off in October, sending its price into the gutter.

However, Dubber announced a couple of days ago that Ernst & Young will be taking care of the company’s auditing from here on in – which might have been decided independent of the October cashtastrophe – but it’s got investors back on board to the tune of 25.0%.

Worth noting as well for today is a sharp rise this arvo by Toys’R’Us (ASX:TOY), which has climbed 26.6% after everyone realised it’s the 2nd of December and Christmas is, like, just around the corner.

Plus Toys’R’Us had a belter of a sales season over the past few weeks, as well. Which is far more likely why it’s gone soaring this afternoon.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

CODE	COMPANY	PRICE	% TODAY	VOLUME	MARKET CAP
VIP	VIP Gloves	0.004	-33%	2,038,554	$4,720,689
DUN	Dundasminerals	0.2	-31%	2,919,286	$12,888,833
GFN	Gefen Int	0.054	-29%	168,671	$5,175,610
DW8	DW8 Limited	0.0015	-25%	53,665,024	$6,499,370
NMR	Native Mineral Res	0.13	-24%	806,162	$19,660,474
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.004	-20%	5,347,500	$34,682,524
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.005	-17%	1,638,460	$6,248,225
AR9	Archtis Limited	0.105	-16%	1,611,881	$33,027,901
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.016	-16%	744,938	$25,571,676
K2F	K2Fly Ltd	0.165	-13%	141,032	$33,088,433
BGE	Bridgesaaslimited	0.1	-13%	47,093	$3,339,141
AJQ	Armour Energy Ltd	0.007	-13%	40,555	$18,655,985
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.007	-13%	200,050	$8,126,997
CAD	Caeneus Minerals	0.0035	-13%	4,466,677	$21,382,420
GCR	Golden Cross	0.007	-13%	2,039,677	$8,778,049
PXX	Polarx Limited	0.007	-13%	1,843,790	$8,450,930
RIM	Rimfire Pacific	0.007	-13%	350,000	$14,449,958
THR	Thor Mining PLC	0.007	-13%	25,550,953	$8,823,068
BXN	Bioxyne Ltd	0.021	-13%	4,450	$15,975,490
LIN	Lindian Resources	0.215	-12%	3,996,142	$221,555,812
HYT	Hyterra Ltd	0.022	-12%	12,171,277	$12,039,967
GSM	Golden State Mining	0.048	-11%	200,000	$6,318,767
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.008	-11%	152,356	$16,540,824
GNM	Great Northern	0.004	-11%	563,888	$7,690,729
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.004	-11%	3,367,774	$13,231,049