CLOSING BELL: ASX adds 0.25%, Health Care remains on life support and GRE flew +223% on lithium chips news

After a more promising start, the ASX closed out the day up by 0.25%.
InfoTech did well (+0.96%), but Health stocks are still anything but, down another 1.97%.
Greentech went soaring, up 223% after rock chip assays showed signs of lithium happiness in WA.

For Small Caps, it’s not exactly been a super-busy day – most of the big-ticket news is the usual dreary macro-economic stuff that I usually only dig too far into to put myself to sleep on those rare occasions when the excitement of State of Origin Footy refuses to wear off but I’ve still gotta go to work in the morning.

The headlines from that section of the news machine include an unexpectedly large fall in Australia’s unemployment rate, which data out today shows dropped to 3.6 per cent in May.

This spurred on the ASX today, which is a little odd considering that the drop increases the likelihood that the RBA’s going to start screwing the lid off the National Jar of Lube in preparation for a rate hike the next time the Board meets to spend the GDP of Tonga on lunch.

That last bit’s a joke that I’ve made just about every time the RBA’s monthly meeting has come up since I started with Stockhead, so I wanted to grab this opportunity to remind everyone that for all the pain the RBA has been inflicting on borrowers for more than a year (so far), the Board does do some very important charitable work.

Quite recently, the RBA board raided the Australian Taxpayer Piggybank to spend a meagre $25,000 to provide 130 of Australia’s most vulnerable billionaires and political leaders with a swanky dinner in Perth, because they matter. #CharityBeginsAtHomeLoanRates.

Could be worse, but… we could be New Zealand, which is ending its day with a shiny new “I’m In Recession” stamp on its forehead, after its latest figures showed that economy is moonwalking its way into a dour patch of negative growth.

The writing was on the wall for NZ, though – everybody knew things had gotten out of shape over the ditch when the Sheep to People ratio data from a few weeks ago painted a somewhat bleat future for the country.

TO MARKETS

All things considered, though, it wasn’t that bad of a day on the ASX. Sure, the market didn’t live up to the +0.4% promise it was showing very early in the session, but it did manage to scratch out a 0.25% win.

A lot of the market’s meanderings could – if you squint hard enough and you’re super-lazy – be pinned on InfoTech’s mercurial performance today… but despite moving like a well-jabbed jelly, it’s the sector that ended the day out in front, up 0.96% ahead of Financials, up 0.79% at the end of the session.

Things have not really improved for Health Care since yesterday, though – and while it’s a lot more palatable than yesterday’s stroke-inducing -4.7% detonation, the sector is down again today banking a 1.97% drop, despite positive news for both HeraMED (ASX:HMD) and Careteq (ASX:CTQ).

There aren’t any massive wins (or disasters) among the Large Caps today but in the Small Caps arena, recent legend IperionX (ASX:IPX) has dropped a large, smoky burnout’s worth of the gains it made this week, down 33.5% for the day.

TODAY’S 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	%	Volume	Market Cap
GRE	Greentechmetals	0.34	224%	23,144,884	$4,400,507
AHN	Athena Resources	0.007	75%	56,010,445	$4,281,870
INP	Incentiapay Ltd	0.014	75%	1,811,275	$10,120,509
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.0015	50%	780,643	$6,147,446
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0015	50%	173,722	$10,716,208
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.17	48%	2,708,489	$6,957,960
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.0055	38%	3,877,974	$19,346,397
C29	C29Metalslimited	0.135	36%	617,075	$4,095,324
AJQ	Armour Energy Ltd	0.004	33%	343,333	$14,764,026
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.002	33%	14,820,050	$1,324,757
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	19,273,625	$6,165,807
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	0.02	33%	102,293	$4,182,285
HAW	Hawthorn Resources	0.13	31%	1,779,542	$33,166,546
LCY	Legacy Iron Ore	0.022	29%	22,462,894	$108,916,045
MQR	Marquee Resource Ltd	0.059	28%	37,348,337	$15,051,545
LYK	Lykosmetalslimited	0.1	25%	730,624	$4,992,000
AYT	Austin Metals Ltd	0.005	25%	1,678,571	$4,063,499
EMU	EMU NL	0.0025	25%	586,260	$2,900,043
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.005	25%	300,108	$2,820,323
GGX	Gas2Grid Limited	0.0025	25%	1,000,000	$8,154,204
NTM	Nt Minerals Limited	0.01	25%	953,241	$6,405,591
PRMDG	Deferred Settlement	0.02	25%	61,620	$1,939,687
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.0025	25%	4,575,152	$1,238,498
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.1975	23%	6,110	$6,200,496
GTI	Gratifii	0.016	23%	4,834,120	$14,275,660

Greentech Metals (ASX:GRE) has had a belter today, gaining 257% by lunchtime on news that rock chip sampling at the Ruth Well Project in the Pilbara region of WA has confirmed multiple lithium bearing pegmatites.

The rock chip assays are coming back sporting grades up to 1.65% from a pegmatite bearing zone about 200m wide and traced for 6km strike, and the company says the zone remains open in all directions.

Another 40 recon samples have since been dispatched to the lab, and results from those are due back pretty soon – and while we were waiting for those to come back, GRE eased back to +223% by the end of the day.

In second place is Incentiapay (ASX:INP), which is up 75% this morning, on a rebound after being sold off heavily on Tuesday – but there’s no apparent reason for the movement in either direction, as the company hasn’t said boo to the market since late May.

So, in “this makes much more sense” second place it’s this week’s semi-sleeper, Errawarra Resources (ASX:ERW), which has been hovering around the Small Caps winner’s circle for a few days now, on no particular news.

The company did offer an exploration update this morning from its Andover West lithium project in Western Australia’s Pilbara region – which didn’t really say much more than “we’re still looking around, but things feel positive” – so it’s likely to be lithium hype-driven, with a spot of “aren’t the neighbours doing well!” thrown in for good measure behind today’s solid gains.

And in “third place because of reasons”, Marquee Resources (ASX:MQR) is up 32.5% today, continuing to capitalise on its recent announcement that it and MinRes (ASX:MIN) are pushing to accelerate a lithium-only farm-in agreement at MQR’s West Spargoville project.

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the least best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	33,025	$3,854,189
CLE	Cyclone Metals	0.001	-33%	1,516,215	$15,396,757
IPX	Iperionx Limited	1.08	-33%	1,601,161	$308,975,353
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.0015	-25%	3,500,000	$11,649,361
BMG	BMG Resources Ltd	0.012	-25%	18,580,353	$9,236,721
DDT	DataDot Technology	0.003	-25%	130,108	$4,843,811
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.0015	-25%	13,000	$6,737,609
PYR	Payright Limited	0.003	-25%	547,799	$3,523,541
AHI	Advanced Health	0.16	-20%	2,038,672	$39,440,794
AQN	Aquirianlimited	0.16	-20%	50,000	$16,112,355
AVW	Avira Resources Ltd	0.002	-20%	363,595	$5,334,475
THR	Thor Energy PLC	0.004	-20%	1,274,591	$7,300,064
VAL	Valor Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	8,308,776	$19,015,174
DGL	DGL Group Limited	0.9575	-17%	2,975,415	$330,496,998
MXC	Mgc Pharmaceuticals	0.005	-17%	2,591,834	$20,098,158
NAE	New Age Exploration	0.005	-17%	646,705	$8,615,393
NET	Netlinkz Limited	0.01	-17%	22,426,404	$42,279,007
PRS	Prospech Limited	0.033	-15%	10,675,978	$8,512,832
ADD	Adavale Resource Ltd	0.029	-15%	6,278,265	$17,664,462
NUC	Nuchev Limited	0.205	-15%	6,923	$12,422,578
AD1	AD1 Holdings Limited	0.006	-14%	8,178	$5,757,983
SRY	Story-I Limited	0.006	-14%	415,835	$2,634,834
NGL	Nightingale Intel	0.061	-14%	565,991	$7,040,849
MPR	Mpower Group Limited	0.019	-14%	94,118	$6,461,472
DVL	Dorsavi Ltd	0.013	-13%	10,000	$8,298,164

LAST ORDERS

Fresh from yesterday’s massive gains, Golden Mile Resources (ASX:G88) says it’s ready to get out amongst us common folk again, with a face-to-face investor presentation it has planned to coincide with the Gold Coast Investment Showcase at the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa, on Thursday 22 June 2023.

It’s a good chance for everyone in that neck of the woods who managed to get aboard the gravy train yesterday to talk with the company executives, and scope out a few other investment opportunities as well.

Meanwhile, Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) has dropped an updated resource estimate for the company’s Kachi lithium brine project in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

The highlights of the update include increased measured and indicated (M&I) resources from 2.19 to 2.93 million tonnes (Mt) of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) defined, to a depth of 400m over 106km2.

That is surrounded by inferred resources of 5.18Mt LCE defined over 161 km2, which remains open to a depth of approximately 600m to 700m below ground surface and open laterally, where drilling is underway to better define the resource extent.

And last but not least for today, S2 Resources (ASX:S2R) has announced that the path has been cleared and it’s off to the races, thanks to the NSW Dept of Digging Big Holes and Selling Stuff granting three quite large exploration licences.

S2R’s new exploration will cover a massive 2,712km2 of Ni-Cu-PGE prospective stratigraphy at Koonenberry in northwestern NSW, a belt-scale play that mimics the Pechenga (Russia) and Fraser Range (Western Australia) nickel districts in terms of its cratonic margin setting, its size and prospective intrusive rocks with known Ni-Cu sulphide occurrences.

The area hasn’t been explored all that much, S2R says, noting that the last time any serious Ni-Cu poking around was done out that way was when Vale-Inco spent 5 years between 2005 to 2010 seeing what’s what.