Good morning everyone, and welcome to Wednesday – the humpiest day of the week according to every known metric in the universe.

After a couple of downers so far this week, we’re all no doubt hoping for a better result from the broader market, but – as always – there’s a lot of moving parts, and a lot of information to digest for anyone nosing around for their Next Big Thing.

To bring you up to speed on the issues of the day, Emma Davies looks into the world of mergers and acquisitions, to see which tech and pharma stocks are a-wheelin’ and dealin’ in the near future, while Eddy Sunarto has been busy looking into one of the UK’s leading CBD companies, Dragonfly Biosciences, ahead of its IPO we’re expecting to see next month.

Meanwhile, the ever-resourceful Josh Chiat brings his insights into what Whitehaven (ASX:WHC) could possibly end up doing with the $2.65 billion it has in the bank as of the final quarter of the year.

If you’re after news on a slightly more exotic tangent, Josh has also been hard at work untangling the ramifications of China’s rumoured halt to sales of germanium to The West – which could leave a number of WA’s diggers sitting on genuine buried treasure.

If that sounds like a lot, it’s only just the start of what’s in store for you today… and for those of you who like their market data fresh, crisp and in list-form, here’s all the important facts and figures to get things moving this morning.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: $US1978.72 (+1.23%)

Silver: $US25.04 (+0.76%)

Nickel (3mth): $US21,190/t (+0.65%)

Copper (3mth): $US8461.50/t (-0.35%)

Oil (WTI): $US75.60 (+1.96%)

Oil (Brent): $US79.68 (+1.51%)

Iron 62pc Fe: $US112.17/t (+0.32%)

AUD/USD: 0.6812  (+0.01%)

Bitcoin: $US29,798 (-1.52%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING?

PEGMATITIES FROM SPAAAAACE.

What more do you need?

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.

YESTERDAY’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:

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Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA): +76%. The exploration minnow IDA “could be ~US$70m richer after the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, part of the World Bank, ordered Tanzania to pay US$109.5m ($160m) for the unlawful expropriation of the Ntaka Hill nickel project (IDA ~62% ownership) in 2018.

“Once considered investment-friendly, the east African nation of Tanzania stunned ASX resource plays in July 2017 with sweeping changes to its Mining Act.”

Upshot on that: IDA awarded a great big wad of cash (yet to be settled, mind) due to the Tanzanian government playing the role you might expect the Tanzanian government to play in a James Bond film..

Hubify (ASX:HFY): +58% > For this, we refer you to Gregor’s Lunch Wrap. If you can’t be bothered clicking the link, and leaving this page, however, here’s the lovingly cut-and-pasted recap:

“ICT and cybersec player Hubify (ASX:HFY) is up 74% after issuing a very positive trading update.

“Hubify says the company is set to deliver consolidated FY23 revenue (unaudited) of $25.72m, an 8% increase YoY, with an underlying EBITDA of $4.42m (unaudited), up $3.42m on the prior year and after removing restructuring and acquisition costs ($0.96m).

“That leaves Hubify with a well-strengthened balance sheet, boasting closing cash of $5.61m with no bank debt.”

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

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TRADING HALTS

Metro Performance Glass (ASX:MPP) – Pending a company announcement to clarify the cooperation agreement of two exisiting shareholders (Takutai Limited and Masfen Securities Limited). The agreement revolves around a potential transaction involving MPP.

92 Energy (ASX:92E) – Capital raising.

DUG Technology (ASX:DUG) – Pending an announcement by the firm in relation to funding arrangements for the construction of a new data centre in Geraldton.

Vital Metals (ASX:VML) – Pending the release of an announcement concerning the Saskatoon Processing Facility Review.

Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL) – Pending an announcement in relation to correspondence from the government of Mali relating to plans to produce Direct Shipped Ore.