• Lode Resources has topped the table with an astounding +175% performance this week
  • Genetic Technologies goes large on news of a new diagnostic for breast and ovarian cancer
  • Adani is mid-collapse and hoping the weekend could be the circuit breaker it desperately needs

 

It’s the end of the week, and what a week it’s been for several of our beloved Small Caps, which have been part of a bumpy old journey Aussie markets in general.

Normally, around this time, we’d gather around to share tales of excitement around IPOs and welcome all the newcomers to the cavalcade of whimsy that is the ASX.

But there are none this week, so let’s just crunch some other numbers and get outta here.

 

Market movements

Kicked off the week limping like a beaten favourite, but went on to end the week up 0.86% – not bad for an index that was looking like it was out on its feet several times throughout the fight.

Globally, it was all pretty choppy as well – in the US, the Dow is up 0.39% so far this week, well behind the S&P on 3.23% and the Nasdaq’s bumper 5.99% climb… but there’s still their Friday to come, so the week will definitely round out a little different than that.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei is on track to finish up around 0.4% for the week, however the Hang Seng has slumped by 4.4% and Shanghai’s tracking toward a 1.8% dip since Monday.

 

In the news this week

The news this week was dominated by the ego-bruising slump in fortune for Guatam Adani, the man behind the massive Indian conglomerate that was accused by short-seller Hindenberg of all manner of chicanery and skullduggery.

It looked like Adani would be able to stand its ground for a couple of days, but in the end the fallout simply proved too much – Guatam Adani’s personal fortune shrank to a measly US$75 billion, while the company’s massive $US2.5 billion cap raise was jettisoned as a combo of seven publicly listed Adani companies have been publicly pantsed to the tune of $US86 billion.

That blood-letting continued throughout the day today – a further US$35 billion has been wiped off the company’s value as investors clamber over the top of each other to get outta Dodge before the whole thing collapses.

The rest of the week’s news was all about inflation, recession and what the hell all the Central Banks are going to do about it… all while the IMF super-helpfully played Chicken Little about how we’re all doomed and the global economy is collapsing and it’s time to secure you and your family an industrial skip to cower in when the whole thing goes a bit Mad Max.

The central banks that did have big decisions to reveal moved in pretty much precisely the manner we all expected them to, by hiking interest rates and making smoochy-lovey-dovey talk about how the worst of it’s probably over… but your mortgage payments are going up, just to be sure.

Rates in the US went up 25 basis points, while both the UK and Europe went hard with a 50 basis point rise.

Australia’s very own Reserve Bank is set to meet on Tuesday, and once the boffins are done with their gold plated lobster lunch, they’re gonna tell us that rates here are up 25 basis points as well.

Anything other than that move would be an enormous shock, and Australia simply wouldn’t have enough pearls to go clutching if the RBA doesn’t move like we’re expecting it to.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS:

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for Jan 30 – Feb 3 

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

Code Company Price % Week Market Cap
LDR Lode Resources 0.335 179% $17,275,697
GTG Genetic Technologies 0.007 133% $27,701,895
ALT Analytica Limited 0.002 100% $9,227,602
SPA Spacetalk Ltd 0.073 83% $13,578,565
PLG Pearlgullironlimited 0.05 67% $2,696,798
IHR intelliHR Limited 0.1075 65% $35,699,067
VKA Viking Mines Ltd 0.013 63% $14,353,618
PYR Payright Limited 0.071 61% $14,872,982
BLG Bluglass Limited 0.054 54% $79,033,550
C1X Cosmosexploration 0.595 53% $14,000,000
MEI Meteoric Resources 0.14 51% $221,381,780
ARE Argonaut Resources 0.003 50% $12,723,743
BUY Bounty Oil & Gas NL 0.0105 50% $9,593,507
WBE Whitebark Energy 0.0015 50% $6,464,886
PET Phoslock Env Tec Ltd 0.0585 50% $39,960,993
JXT Jaxstaltd 0.044 47% $14,200,398
SLB Stelarmetalslimited 0.215 43% $8,056,500
ADY Admiralty Resources. 0.01 43% $14,339,371
MMM Marley Spoon 0.205 41% $60,970,758
BKY Berkeley Energia Ltd 0.4375 41% $200,608,522
RON Roninresourcesltd 0.175 40% $5,074,667
MRZ Mont Royal Resources 0.23 39% $15,066,187
PAT Patriot Lithium 0.43 39% $26,983,688
3DA Amaero International 0.18 38% $70,628,236
ASM Ausstratmaterials 2.34 38% $361,750,343
SUH Southern Hem Min 0.022 38% $8,030,886
AU1 The Agency Group Aus 0.035 35% $14,143,027
LYN Lycaonresources 0.35 35% $9,875,625
RVT Richmond Vanadium 0.39 34% $29,741,693
AJX Alexium Int Group 0.024 33% $14,201,596
CXU Cauldron Energy Ltd 0.008 33% $7,452,544
EQN Equinoxresources 0.18 33% $7,875,000
GLV Global Oil & Gas 0.002 33% $6,857,595
RBX Resource B 0.12 33% $5,706,983
ROO Roots Sustainable 0.002 33% $2,078,439
YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.004 33% $1,626,185
NWC New World Resources 0.06 33% $124,211,345
PV1 Provaris Energy Ltd 0.0685 32% $36,186,511
NNL Nordicnickellimited 0.375 32% $20,753,301
BNR Bulletin Res Ltd 0.125 30% $29,359,110
ROC Rocketboots 0.13 30% $3,810,000
ALA Arovella Therapeutic 0.031 29% $23,375,075
HHI Health House Int Ltd 0.009 29% $1,554,627
MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.009 29% $13,736,508
MOB Mobilicom Ltd 0.009 29% $10,650,237
OAU Ora Gold Limited 0.009 29% $6,889,619
SKN Skin Elements Ltd 0.018 29% $7,924,293
TRM Truscott Mining Corp 0.096 28% $15,044,135
HTG Harvest Tech Grp Ltd 0.088 28% $55,726,840
MME Moneyme Limited 0.35 27% $107,633,946
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Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) was the biggest winner this week, surging +179% off the back of an outstanding silver drill hit – 116.1m at 1003g/t silver equivalent from 90m, including 3.1m at 3325g/t silver from 201m – at the historic Webbs Consol project in NSW.

That’s not true width but still very thick, very high grade, and not too deep (three basic criteria punters should look at when evaluating drill results).

This hit from the so-called Tangoa West lode – one of six at the project — represents the highest endowment of all drill intercepts received to date, the company says.

It also doubles Tangoa West mineralisation to a depth of 200m vertically “and the lode width appears to increase with depth”.

“The exceptionally rich WCS045 drill intercept demonstrates strong vertical continuity of the Tangoa West Lode mineralisation and rapidly increasing mineral endowment with depth,” MD Ted Leschke said.

“This has depth potential implications for all six lodes discovered to date as well as the overall prospectivity and potential scale of Webbs Consol silver project.”

Second cab off the rank was Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) who jumped +133% after announcing an imminent launch of the world’s first comprehensive risk test for breast and ovarian cancer today.

It’s a pretty big deal, considering there are more than 2.26 million cases of breast cancer and 313,000 cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed annually around the world.

The Risk Assessment Test will be able to evaluate a woman’s risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer either from a hereditary genetic mutation, or from the far more common familial or sporadic cancer – all from a single saliva sample and a questionnaire.

GTG believes the new platform could advance the goal of providing population-based genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancer where up to 85% of cancers diagnosed do not have hereditary or family history.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Week Market Cap
RGS Regeneus Ltd 0.018 -56% $6,128,738
AHQ Allegiance Coal Ltd 0.02 -50% $24,117,502
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.001 -33% $23,463,861
FIJ Fiji Kava Limited 0.008 -33% $2,549,235
MGG Mogul Games Grp Ltd 0.001 -33% $4,895,162
MYE Metarock Group Ltd 0.14 -33% $18,338,957
GLL Galilee Energy Ltd 0.19 -32% $66,014,812
TZL TZ Limited 0.065 -32% $16,257,692
CAI Calidus Resources 0.27 -30% $123,019,547
ENX Enegex Limited 0.029 -28% $4,898,565
AHN Athena Resources 0.008 -27% $8,563,740
MCM Mc Mining Ltd 0.26 -27% $111,350,845
TFL Tasfoods Ltd 0.03 -27% $15,298,343
IMR Imricor Med Sys 0.2 -26% $33,296,478
GFN Gefen Int 0.046 -26% $3,132,606
AMD Arrow Minerals 0.006 -25% $15,202,591
AUK Aumake Limited 0.003 -25% $3,060,564
EMU EMU NL 0.006 -25% $4,123,609
OAR OAR Resources Ltd 0.0045 -25% $12,055,189
PRM Prominence Energy 0.0015 -25% $3,636,913
SIT Site Group Int Ltd 0.003 -25% $3,153,735
VIP VIP Gloves 0.003 -25% $2,360,344
BOD BOD Science Ltd 0.095 -24% $14,240,299
HPP Health Plant Protein 0.052 -24% $6,755,141
AGR Aguia Res Ltd 0.041 -23% $19,246,034
RCW Rightcrowd 0.035 -22% $10,490,450
SMX Security Matters 0.2 -22% $33,570,916
ADG Adelong Gold Limited 0.011 -21% $5,872,045
FXG Felix Gold Limited 0.0865 -21% $6,653,312
OPA Optima Technology 0.059 -21% $15,876,852
SCT Scout Security Ltd 0.026 -21% $6,451,050
PKO Peako Limited 0.015 -21% $5,688,229
WTN Winton Land 1.96 -21% $578,396,785
AW1 Americanwestmetals 0.091 -21% $13,416,132
STM Sunstone Metals Ltd 0.0325 -21% $89,095,178
BAS Bass Oil Ltd 0.135 -21% $34,829,245
ENV Enova Mining Limited 0.012 -20% $4,691,152
OPL Opyl Limited 0.028 -20% $1,793,457
WFL Wellfully Limited 0.016 -20% $5,867,223
WML Woomera Mining Ltd 0.016 -20% $15,298,579
KAL Kalgoorliegoldmining 0.067 -19% $5,807,595
AHI Advanced Health 0.105 -19% $20,585,667
FRM Farm Pride Foods 0.08 -19% $6,016,612
GSS Genetic Signatures 0.8 -19% $117,592,917
KSN Kingston Resources 0.097 -19% $41,565,366
MDC Medlab Clinical Ltd 6.6 -19% $15,413,639
HXL Hexima 0.018 -18% $2,839,674
M8S M8 Sustainable 0.009 -18% $4,909,085
GBE Globe Metals &Mining 0.082 -18% $44,595,645
SMS Starmineralslimited 0.073 -18% $2,336,820
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