Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

On Stockhead today, The Fed raised for the 9th time overnight, (25bps), but some careful changes to the post-meeting FOMC statement suggests they could be done with just repeating without much rinsing.

And how good is gold?

China reckons they’ve just found a stack of it in Shandong Province.

Josh Chiat gets to the bottom of that.

Closer to home, Manuka Resources’ (ASX:MKR) says plans are done to reopen Mt Boppy for production in the June quarter.

Lot’s happening.

But first, the day ahead.

TRADING HALTS

The following stocks went into trading halts and are expected out in the coming days:

Little Green Pharma (ASX:LGP) – Capital raising.

Grand Gulf Energy (ASX:GGE) – Capital raising.

BelaraRox (ASX:BRX) – Project acquisition.

Race Oncology (ASX:RAC) – Board reshuffle.

National Storage REIT (ASX:NSR) – Institutional placement.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: $US1,938.52 (+1.76%)

Silver: $US24.36 (+2.7%)

Nickel (3mth): $US23,2636/t (+1.01%)

Copper (3mth): $US8518.50/t (+0.16%)

Oil (WTI): $US70.05 (+0.53%)

Oil (Brent): $US76.14 (+1.05%)

Iron 62pc Fe: $US132.00/t (0.00%)

AUD/USD: 0.6665 (-0.82%)

Bitcoin: $US28,017 (+0.35%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING?

“Opportunity is borne of change. You just need to know where to find it.” – the latest edition of Outperform offers expert insights into a changing #investment environment. Read it now on Stockhead, or in today’s edition of The @australian.https://t.co/qOEVpZlPX0 #ASX

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) March 22, 2023

Keep up to date with Stockhead coverage or you’ll miss gold like that EVERY DAY. Follow our Twitter page.

For all you crypto lovers Stockhead’s Coinhead Facebook group is the place to share your views, insights, tips and ideas.

Also, be sure to check in preopen each day for ‘Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch’, and 10.30am for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.

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
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.0145	61%	3,094,421	$8,635,386
TMT	Technology Metals	0.315	34%	741,759	$49,308,771
CCE	Carnegie Cln Energy	0.002	33%	1,601,581	$23,463,861
CXU	Cauldron Energy Ltd	0.008	33%	3,813,837	$5,589,408
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.016	33%	528,856	$6,767,758
RR1	Reach Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	1,217,773	$7,132,652
LBY	Laybuy Group Holding	0.035	30%	3,801,255	$6,953,315
NET	Netlinkz Limited	0.009	29%	27,163,184	$24,443,421
RCL	Readcloud	0.064	28%	217,286	$6,091,864
BPH	BPH Energy Ltd	0.023	28%	42,801,982	$15,796,781
CL8	Carly Holdings Ltd	0.025	25%	320,192	$4,087,408
IRX	Inhalerx Limited	0.05	25%	70,000	$7,590,678
AOA	Ausmon Resorces	0.005	25%	500,154	$3,877,157
HNR	Hannans Ltd	0.01	25%	6,400,042	$21,796,838
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.005	25%	3,470,287	$2,354,377
THR	Thor Energy PLC	0.005	25%	2,239,898	$5,912,451
MKR	Manuka Resources.	0.067	24%	1,578,075	$27,151,283
BEZ	Besragoldinc	0.074	23%	9,006,090	$21,231,713
NGS	NGS Ltd	0.029	21%	52,142	$3,559,379
FOD	The Food Revolution	0.12	20%	178,503	$23,669,079
SGI	Stealth Global	0.12	20%	9,598	$9,970,000
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.006	20%	1,408,465	$6,192,434
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.003	20%	500,000	$4,964,797
WOO	Wooboard Tech Ltd	0.012	20%	920,914	$2,299,549
DTM	Dart Mining NL	0.045	18%	40,000	$5,913,581

A mysterious surge in activity around mining minnow Labyrinth Resources (ASX:LRL) propelled it into top spot with a 6x spike against its 4-week average volume driving it 66.7% ahead.

Manuka Resources (ASX:MKR) gained 29.6% after announcing that it’s ready to recommence gold production at Mt Boppy, with a build-up targeting approximately 25koz per year of gold for about three years.

BPH Energy (ASX:BPH) saw some serious gains after being reinstated to trading after a three-month suspension by the ASX.

BPH was bounced after a major national news outlet published claims that the 30.7% BPH-owned PEP-11 gas project could be pumping out product by 2024, after BPH reportedly seeded the story through a small-caps focused website.

LayBuy (ASX:LBY) jumped 29.6% ahead of delisting on Friday, and Besra Gold (ASX:BEZ) added another 26.7% to yesterday’s cracking haul, which came on news that it’s inked an (up to) US$300m gold pre-purchase and offtake non-binding drawdown funding facility term sheet with major shareholder Quantum Metal Recovery.

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
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.002	-33%	234,907	$10,513,618
MEB	Medibio Limited	0.001	-33%	50,000	$6,225,891
REM	Remsensetechnologies	0.087	-33%	602,631	$4,740,004
NNG	Nexion Group	0.02	-26%	1,863,969	$4,112,312
CLZ	Classic Min Ltd	0.0015	-25%	86,556,710	$3,675,564
MXC	Mgc Pharmaceuticals	0.01	-23%	9,548,086	$37,263,815
SIX	Sprintex Ltd	0.038	-22%	332,085	$12,463,362
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.004	-20%	5,457,401	$2,082,731
WBT	Weebit Nano Ltd	5.59	-19%	4,087,666	$1,205,067,534
AU1	The Agency Group Aus	0.025	-19%	213,903	$13,285,874
LCT	Living Cell Tech.	0.009	-18%	120,998	$15,239,001
TGM	Theta Gold Mines Ltd	0.05	-17%	410,000	$37,140,544
NAE	New Age Exploration	0.005	-17%	700,000	$8,615,393
ROC	Rocketboots	0.093	-15%	271,839	$3,492,500
MPR	Mpower Group Limited	0.017	-15%	50,406	$5,874,066
PR1	Pureresourceslimited	0.205	-15%	48,262	$6,036,002
RTH	Ras Tech	0.47	-15%	6,800	$25,002,222
ORN	Orion Minerals Ltd	0.012	-14%	1,569,625	$66,574,895
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.006	-14%	797,418	$9,601,949
AYA	Artryalimited	0.225	-13%	713,157	$16,326,316
MGA	Metalsgrovemining	0.13	-13%	25,828	$5,400,075
GIB	Gibb River Diamonds	0.052	-13%	465,338	$12,690,567
NWM	Norwest Minerals	0.027	-13%	1,086,134	$6,885,329
KNM	Kneomedia Limited	0.007	-13%	528,904	$12,038,283
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.0035	-13%	500,000	$31,139,531