• ‘More of the same’ since lunchtime saw the benchmark land at -0.25% for the day
  • Health Care coughed up a 1.09% lift while Financials weighed heavily on -0.71%
  • Magnum Mining wins the Small Caps trophy with +44.1% thanks to Mitsubishi deal

 

Banking and oil stocks have scuttled any hope of a positive day on local markets, with both the Financials and Energy sectors deep in the doldrums through the session.

Between that and the ever-present bugbear of “worries over blah blah blah on Wall Street” arriving wrapped in Debt Ceiling and CPI Increase Data woes today, local markets weren’t really on track to have a stellar performance.

Only 4 of 11 sectors ended the day on a positive note (if you count Consumer Discretionary squeezing in above zero by 0.01%), but Health Care posted a strong result on +1.01%, with Real Estate (+0.27%) and InfoTech (+0.29%) also in the black.

Financials sank 0.71% today as banks took a post-budget beating, oil led the Energy sector lower by 0.55% and Materials went from flat to -0.43% between lunchtime and the closing bell.

At the top end of town, uranium digger Paladin Energy (ASX:PDN) closed up 7.6% and Boss Energy (ASX:BOE) climbed 8.05%, as investors swung behind uranium shares throughout the day.

 

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

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Stand-out performer of the day in Small Caps was undoubtedly Magnum Mining (ASX:MGU), which took off like a scalded cat this morning, soaring 82.5% on news that its signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for an offtake deal with Mitsubishi covering “all products associated with the proposed operations at its 100% owned Buena Vista Green Iron Project in Nevada, USA”.

“This MOU gives the Buena Vista Green Iron Project a sound basis for moving forward to a Feasibility Study,” Magnum CEO Neil Goodman said.

“The Ferrous Raw Materials Division of Mitsubishi is an internationally recognised and respected commodity trading team. Magnum welcomes this important strategic alliance and the surety it can bring to the Project’s development.”

The rush on Magnum shares eased somewhat throughout the day, leaving it trading at 44.1% when the whistle went to mark full time.

In second place today is Dynamic Metals (ASX:DYM), up 26.3% after the company announced that it has completed the first round of exploration drilling at its Lake Percy nickel project 120km to the west of Norseman in WA’s goldfield region.

Dynamic says it used a combination of AC and RC drilling to complete 102 holes for a total of 6,372m (2,022 AC and 4,350m RC), with assay results due back before the end of the current quarter.

The Company’s tenements are centred around the northern extension of the Lake Johnston greenstone belt, which hosts the Emily Ann and Maggie Hays nickel mines and the more recent Medcalf spodumene discovery by Charger Metals (ASX:CHR).

Aussie cannabis company Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH), jumped 25% on news that the company’s wholly-owned US subsidiary, Sierra Sage Herbs, has finalised a new product range of functional (non-psychedelic) mushrooms.

On top of that, Sierra Sage Herbs has also inked a deal to expand its distribution partnership with global e-commerce marketplace Groupon, that connects shoppers with merchants through group voucher discounts and promotions, opening up avenues to significantly increase its market share in the United States.

And worth a quick mention is Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE), up 19.1% today after presenting a powerpoint at the Austmine Conference, centred on its Samphire uranium project – part of the broader show of support for uranium across the market today.

 

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

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LAST ORDERS

Clinical-stage biotech Cynata Therapeutic (ASX:CYP) has successfully completed an oversubscribed share purchase plan (SPP), following a $5 million placement announced to ASX on 06 April.

In conjunction with the Placement, the Company announced the SPP to offer existing eligible shareholders the opportunity to subscribe for up to $30,000 worth of new shares at $0.215, the price representing a 2.5% discount to the volume weighted average price of shares during the five trading days up to the closing date.

As the plan was oversubscribed by ~$0.05m, the board has decided to apply an equal scale-back of applications, meaning each applicant will receive ~97.63% of the new shares they applied for, resulting in the issue of 12,903,296 of new shares.

With the $7 million tucked in its wallet, Cynata intends to use the funds to progress its upcoming Phase-2 clinical trial in acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) and for working capital.

And lastly, there’s some late mail from Magnum Mining, which has backed up this morning’s chunky run of gains with an announcement that it’s signed a landmark deal with Shandong Province Metallurgical Engineering (SMD), which will see the latter undertake a Feasibility Study for the HIsmelt Plant at Magnum’s Buena Vista Green Iron Project in Nevada, USA.

HIsmelt is a developing sector in green pig iron production, which uses iron concentrate directly without the need for pelletising or agglomeration, and can be delivered without resorting to the use of coal and coking.

“This agreement for the Feasibility Study will advance the Buena Vista Project’s development,” Magnum CEO Neil Goodman said. “SDM are one of the most experienced HIsmelt engineering companies in the world having worked on several plants in Australia, China, South East Asia.”

 

TRADING HALTS

Voltaic Strategic Resources (ASX:VSR) – Capital raising.

Technology One (ASX:TNE) – Data breach.

Podium Minerals (ASX:POD) – Capital raising.

Saturn Metals (ASX:STN) – Capital raising.

 

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