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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 29 May, 2024 – an important day in the history of trying to make life better for those suffering from physical and mental illness.

That’s because it was on this day in 1861 that a young woman by the name of Dorothea Dix ushered US medicine along some of its first, feeble steps towards modernisation, through her organisational work with wartime hospitals for Union soldiers in the Civil War.

Dix was well known to US lawmakers already, having spearheaded an almost-successful campaign to have asylums constructed to house the mentally ill, many of whom at the time were simply locked up “for their own good”, or dumped in the streets and left to fend for themselves.

Dix’s opening statement to the Massachusetts legislature garnered significant interest in her project, although I suspect it might have been for all the wrong reasons.

“I proceed, Gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of Insane Persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience,” Dix’s speech read, which no doubt had more than a coupe of Massachusetts lawmakers wondering how exactly one might be able to find themselves in a similar, sexy predicament.

Dix’s campaign was incredibly successful, with her signature initiative known as the Bill for the Benefit of the Indigent Insane passing both houses of US congress, only to have then-president Franklin Pierce veto it, because he was a prick.

Luckily for you, however, you don’t need to be a prick – or even insane – to get the benefits of Stockhead’s own initiative for helping people who suffer from ASX Madness… it’s okay, buddy – we’re here to help.

For starters, you should read Christian’s efforts of gazing deeply into his crystal balls to divine what’s going to happen when Americans go to the polls in November, and as always, I’ve pulled together all the bits and bobs and data and digits below, so you can look super-duper-smart in front of your mates when the market opens this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,351.30 (+0.04%)

Silver: US$31.74 (+0.13%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,250/t (+0.83%)

Copper (3mth): US$10,657/t (+0.27%)

Zinc: US$3,109.10/t (+1.70%)

Oil (WTI): US$78.85 (+1.35%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.24 (+0.24%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$117.66/t (+0.01%)

AUD/USD: 0.6665 (+0.15%)

Bitcoin: US$67,882.00 (-2.14%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Did you miss Forrestania’s rocket ride yesterday? You might not have if you’d read this… but just so we’re all on the same page, here it is again.

#ASX #resources #stocks winners in early trade, Monday May 27.
🔺 @ForrestaniaRes ( $FRS )
🔺 @FalconMetalsLtd ( $FAL )
🔺 @ASX_MQR ( $MQR )
🔺 @AusQuest_Ltd ( $AQD )
🔺 @KincoraCopper ( $KCC )https://t.co/QNAK4Uzp6d

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) May 28, 2024

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:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
FRS	Forrestania Resources	0.050	163%	73,404,356	$3,073,929
CAQ	CAQ Holdings Ltd	0.070	133%	301,157	$21,533,588
KCC	Kincora Copper	0.054	50%	551,470	$7,378,901
1MC	Morella Corporation	0.003	50%	4,132,464	$12,357,599
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.002	50%	601,419	$10,716,208
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.016	45%	2,667,824	$5,419,619
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.230	44%	2,515,451	$28,320,000
VN8	Vonex Limited.	0.022	38%	5,042,069	$5,789,258
NAE	New Age Exploration	0.004	33%	10,000	$5,381,697
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.004	33%	2,499,417	$2,097,117
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.017	31%	4,421,673	$10,726,940
BGE	Bridgesaaslimited	0.026	30%	34,139	$2,387,941
HFY	Hubify Ltd	0.013	30%	5,002,549	$4,961,363
CR1	Constellation Res	0.210	27%	134,195	$9,781,270
RBX	Resource B	0.038	27%	96,790	$2,480,535
PNT	Panthermetalsltd	0.060	25%	111,229	$4,183,976
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.003	25%	5,873,842	$57,785,344
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.005	25%	136,592	$4,471,956
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.003	25%	16,901,652	$7,356,542
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.005	25%	100,000	$25,698,129
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.003	25%	947,232	$3,804,841
TAS	Tasman Resources Ltd	0.005	25%	648,654	$2,850,677
BCC	Beam Communications	0.155	24%	247,532	$10,802,740
MQR	Marquee Resource Ltd	0.016	23%	6,221,597	$5,373,997
GBZ	GBM Rsources Ltd	0.011	22%	2,140,187	$10,410,200

Gold, lithium and nickel hunter, Forrestania Resources (ASX:FRS), surged today on news related to iron ore, in the Yilgarn region, sending it triple-bagging upwards, about 200%.

The company has announced it’s entered into an option agreement with shareholders of Netley Minerals to acquire 100% of issued shares in Netley, which is the holder of highly prospective iron ore tenements right next to Mineral Resources’ (ASX:MIN) Koolyanobbing operations.

It’s potentially big for FRS, that, which enters into a three-month option period, in which the company will drill test several iron ore targets identified by Netley and its advisors. The potential is there, with surveys and rock chip sampling correlating with the geophysical trends, indicating mineralisation potential. All else, including infrastructure – road, rail, port and service centres – lines up well.

Falcon Metals (ASX:FAL) soared after receiving high-grade results for its 91-hole aircore (AC) drilling program at its Farrelly mineral sands prospect in Victoria, which is a follow-up on high-grade reconnaissance drilling results announced in early March.

The new results confirm Farrelly as a high-grade mineral sands discovery with a thick zone of mineralisation (Main Zone) now defined covering an area of about 1,200 metres by 600 metres and remaining open in several directions.

Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY), which makes fibre, fertiliser and food packaging out of banana waste, made tidy gains on news that it has signed two contracts worth US$1.7m with the Egyptian Government’s National Authority for Military Production (MP).

Kincora Copper (ASX:KCC) has signed itself a $50m earn-in and joint venture agreement with a unit of the NYSE-listed AngloGold Ashanti for KCC’s Northern Junee-Narromine Belt (NJNB) copper and gold project in New South Wales. This is located in the near-unexplored undercover extension of a porphyry-related, rich gold and copper mineralised zone known as the Macquarie Arc. The company notes that a “wide range of virgin, large intrusive-related copper-gold targets will be drill tested” under the new agreement”.

Battery metals and precious metals hunter, Marquee Resources (ASX:MQR), has inked an option agreement with two parties to buy a gold and silver project in Sardinia, Italy, called Sa Pedra Bianca. Shareholders are enjoying the 30% rise in MQR that’s come on the back of the news today.

And Playside Studios (ASX:PLY), the games maker, provided an update to its FY24 revenue and earnings guidance announced in February. Based on year-to-date trading, PLY now expects FY24 revenue to come in between $63m-$65m (previously $60-$65m). FY24 EBITDA is to come in between $16-$18m (previous guidance $11-$13m).

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:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
HCT	Holista CollTech Ltd	0.006	-40%	2,577,068.00	$2,788,001
APC	Aust Potash Ltd	0.001	-33%	5,860,966.00	$6,030,284
GCR	Golden Cross	0.002	-33%	32,000.00	$3,291,768
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.002	-33%	1,832,578.00	$13,455,285
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,600,000.00	$6,671,507
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.002	-33%	250,000.00	$36,612,769
WEL	Winchester Energy	0.002	-33%	15,125.00	$3,061,266
DY6	Dy6Metalsltd	0.115	-30%	2,906,805.00	$6,667,787
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.003	-25%	113,009.00	$4,953,948
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.003	-25%	558,468.00	$2,357,944
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.003	-25%	2,995,444.00	$23,580,268
SBW	Shekel Brainweigh	0.040	-23%	207,467.00	$10,960,859
ADY	Admiralty Resources.	0.008	-20%	1,909,585.00	$16,294,739
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.002	-20%	1,515,000.00	$4,786,017
ICU	Investor Centre Ltd	0.008	-20%	424,553.00	$3,045,113
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	20,383.00	$27,111,136
YAR	Yari Minerals Ltd	0.004	-20%	3,518,210.00	$2,411,789
FRE	Firebrickpharma	0.058	-17%	324,137.00	$12,551,472
LVH	Livehire Limited	0.015	-17%	310,499.00	$6,652,762
BCT	Bluechiip Limited	0.005	-17%	16,619.00	$6,604,601
BPP	Babylon Pump	0.005	-17%	800,000.00	$14,997,294
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.005	-17%	675,591.00	$18,000,000
VRX	VRX Silica Ltd	0.047	-16%	996,328.00	$32,669,199
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.006	-14%	29,431,658.00	$6,975,745

TRADING HALTS

Pointerra (ASX:3DP) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raising.

Copper Search (ASX:CUS) – pending an announcement to ASX regarding a capital raise.

Australian Gold and Copper (ASX:AGC) – ending the release of an announcement to the market regarding a capital raising.

Si6 Metals (ASX:SI6) – pending an announcement in relation to Brazilian exploration results.

Latrobe Magnesium (ASX:LMG) – pending an announcement to the market regarding a proposed capital raising.

Gryphon Capital Income Trust (ASX:GCI) – pending an announcement by the Responsible Entity regarding a capital raising.

Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY) – pending an announcement to be made to the market clarifying some comments in the ASX announcement made on 28 May 2024.

Kula Gold (ASX:KGD) – pending an announcement by the Company regarding an acquision and a capital raise.

Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) – pending an announcement regarding an exclusive distribution agreement update.

Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX) – pending an announcement of a capital raising.

Merchant House (ASX:MHI) – pending an announcement to the market regarding a material asset divestment.