CLOSING BELL: A crazy ride for tech stocks and Wildcat as the ASX dips 0.22%

ASX sinks to -0.4% before slogging its way back to -0.22% for the day.
Tech stocks were all over the shop but came out on top with +1.2%.
Wildcat (ASX:WC8) was King of the Small Caps, adding 34.5% on no fresh news.

After sinking as low as -0.4% in the middle of the day, a steady rally has seen local markets recover to -0.22% as the afternoon dragged on longer than a 4th grade “talent show”, the last one of which I attended featured what felt like a nine-hour performance from Aiden Walker and His Amazing Screaming Violin.

There are still nights where I wake in horror, the sound of a partially-frozen cat being run through a bandsaw still ringing in my ears.

*ahem* – my apologies for the digression.

Looking at the market sectors today, it’s been a really strange day for tech stocks, with the XTX All Ords Tech index putting on an interesting double-rally over the course of the session.

This morning, the XTX sank like a stone by around 20 points, only to rally by lunchtime to pare losses back to be broadly in line with the rest of the market. But then it sank again, precipitously, before rallying again to finish the day as the best-represented sector, well above the rest of the market.

asx winner westar

XTX va All Ords and ASX 200 today. Chart via MarketIndex.com.au

See? I’m not making it up. What a wild ol’ ride it’s been.

InfoTech, natch, finished the day on top at +1.2%, with Energy (+1.0%) and Health Care (+0.5%) the only sectors making meaningful stabs into positive territory.

Those gains were, sadly, more than offset by the rest of the market, with Real Estate (-0.69%), Telcos (-0.62%) Financials (-0.57%) and Consumer Discretionary (-0.51%) all being very basic and boring and costing people money. Booooo.

Up the expensive end of the ASX, BrainChip (ASX:BRN) extended its gains from this morning out to a +8.5% performance, which has dragged the company past the psychologically important $900 million market cap. Well-played.

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
1ST	1St Group Ltd	0.006	50%	510,671	$5,667,965
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.01	43%	104,701	$2,023,563
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.007	40%	7,283,149	$7,476,973
WC8	Wildcat Resources	0.078	34%	28,131,879	$38,397,318
AYM	Australia United Min	0.004	33%	127,700	$5,527,732
M4M	Macro Metals Limited	0.004	33%	2,245,543	$5,961,233
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	14,905,003	$5,563,747
WSR	Westar Resources	0.05	33%	22,133,486	$4,169,783
FGL	Frugl Group Limited	0.009	29%	1,400,243	$6,692,434
ZAG	Zuleika Gold Ltd	0.018	29%	646,214	$7,322,709
GTK	Gentrack Group Ltd	4.09	28%	581,677	$325,536,592
DC2	Dctwo	0.023	28%	126,036	$2,351,059
NHE	Nobleheliumlimited	0.195	26%	941,211	$19,123,815
ICN	Icon Energy Limited	0.005	25%	49,591	$3,072,055
RML	Resolution Minerals	0.005	25%	5,000,000	$5,029,167
MAN	Mandrake Res Ltd	0.047	21%	9,873,171	$23,351,637
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.006	20%	26,678,159	$10,810,796
POL	Polymetals Resources	0.365	20%	210,552	$29,640,721
OSM	Osmondresources	0.19	19%	501,931	$5,296,001
LVE	Love Group Global	0.065	18%	3,489	$2,229,379
VMM	Viridismining	0.235	18%	84,279	$6,241,800
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.0105	17%	2,171,598	$4,804,401
BVR	Bellavistaresources	0.21	17%	159,597	$6,835,052
BAT	Battery Minerals Ltd	0.0035	17%	851,741	$10,070,827
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.0035	17%	250,000	$4,355,980

In Small Caps news, Wildcat Resources (ASX:WC8) has resumed its effort to reach interstellar space this morning, up 34.5% to take its gains for the month past 160% after announcing that it had entered into a conditional, binding agreement to acquire 100% of the Tabba Tabba Tantalum Mine and Lithium-Tantalum Project, 50km from Port Hedland in the Pilbara, WA.

In second place, after a sharp sell off last week Westar Resources (ASX:WSR) is booming again, this time on no news. It waa up 28% at lunchtime, and closing in on its recent 15 May high of $0.052 per share.

It’s been a week since Westar told the market it had found “numerous thick pegmatite intersections (up to 44 metres)” which it considered “very promising” at its Olga Rock prospect.

But, despite the fact assays from Olga Rocks are still around 5 weeks away, investors seem to be back on board, pushing WSR higher by 33.3% for the session.

And in third (and being justifiable) place, it’s Noble Helium (ASX:NHE), up 25.8% today after releasing a very promising operational update from its North Rukwa project in Tanzania.

The company says it’s on track to complete its farmout by the end of May (a bit over a week away), and a deal has been struck that will see Sofori’s Drillmec HH102 rig – which is currently undergoing maintenance in Tunisia – mobilised to Tanzania in mid-June.

And a noteworthy mention for Zuleika Gold (ASX:ZAG), which is by far the day’s prime candidate for a “please explain” postcard from the ASX, after there was a massive spike in volume (646,214 against a 4W avg of 51,841) that sent the trading price up 28.6%, despite not even a hint of a whiff of news since the company dropped its quarterly in late April.

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
MTH	Mithril Resources	0.002	-33%	1,900,000	$10,106,413
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.0015	-25%	2,163,214	$7,009,079
WNR	Wingara Ag Ltd	0.045	-24%	101,557	$10,357,008
PYR	Payright Limited	0.01	-23%	1,079,951	$11,451,507
TYM	Tymlez Group	0.007	-22%	27,263,538	$9,829,758
AAP	Australian Agri Ltd	0.011	-21%	35,714	$4,271,393
8VI	8Vi Holdings Limited	0.41	-21%	11,000	$22,038,339
EMU	EMU NL	0.002	-20%	390,633	$3,625,053
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.008	-20%	2,578,972	$7,514,597
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.004	-20%	884,499	$24,182,996
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.002	-20%	524,321	$1,548,122
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.025	-19%	113,500	$4,122,397
Z2U	Zoom2Utechnologies	0.06	-19%	41,540	$10,359,236
IMI	Infinitymining	0.135	-18%	333,020	$12,618,923
WEC	White Energy Company	0.091	-17%	486	$4,462,622
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.015	-17%	505,440	$11,133,637
GTG	Genetic Technologies	0.0025	-17%	2,355,651	$34,624,974
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.01	-17%	5,068,438	$24,687,221
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.0025	-17%	4,600,000	$4,855,214
TYR	Tyro Payments	1.2875	-16%	17,932,403	$798,654,997
OPL	Opyl Limited	0.021	-16%	161,585	$2,001,627
CII	CI Resources Limited	1.01	-16%	39,359	$138,697,328
R8R	Regener8Resourcesnl	0.15	-14%	45,000	$4,489,844
CPH	Creso Pharma Ltd	0.012	-14%	21,722,140	$31,024,030
CPO	Culpeominerals	0.06	-14%	252,186	$4,642,071

LAST ORDERS

Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) has some good news out of Canada, thanks to its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary Mernova Medicinal.

Mernova has reported a great month for May, delivering strong growth in purchase orders generating AUD$662,131 in new purchase orders from a range of province partners and wholesalers across Canada and for the company’s dried flower, pre-roll joint and electronic vaporiser products.

Those sales take Mernovas’s take total unaudited Q2 FY2023 sales to AUD$1,215,365, and follows the AUD$553,957 in purchase orders generated in April 2023 and the division’s maiden cashflow positive position in Q1 FY2023.

On top of that, Creso is also celebrating Mernova’s extension of licences with Health Canada and Canada Revenue Agency, in accordance with the Cannabis Act and Cannabis Regulations, for an additional five years, through to February 2028.

“Mernova continues to deliver strong sales growth via province partners, and we have a positive outlook through to the end of Q2 and beyond,” CEO and managing director William Lay said.

”We continue to witness pleasing demand for the group’s product range which is now sold through eight Canadian provinces.”

Some not-so-great news has come in from Seitel (ASX:SSL), with the release of its half-year report today.

SSL is – for those (like me) who are not in the know – ”engaged principally in investment in industrial, commercial, retail estate, provision of finance and lease facilities and plant and management services to its controlled entities and management, evaluation and expansion of these and other business opportunities”.

I’ve read through that half a dozen times and I’m still not entirely sure what they do there… but whatever it is, it’s not been working out so well for them recently.

According to the Halfly (that’s, like, two Quarterly reports at the same time), Sietel’s profits are down 60% to $588,000 for the period ending 31 March 2023.

But! – through the magic of Gains on Financial Assets at Fair Value through Other Comprehensive Income, to which Sietel has assigned a positive value of $2.99 million, things aren’t looking completely terrible, so there’s that.

And in more positive news, Centrex (ASX:CXM) has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Agriflex has exported its first shipment of phosphate rock to a substantial customer in South Korea.

The 15,000-tonne shipment is headed to a substantial commercial fertiliser-producer customer of SamsungC&T and “represents a further step forward in Centrex realising its potential as a mass exporter of some of the highest quality phosphate in the world”, the company says.