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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 18 July, 2024 – an important date in the history of getting sprung with your hands down the front of your toga.

That’s because it was on this day in the Year 64 that the Great Fire of Rome began, which then-Emperor Nero quite famously “fiddled” through while the whole place went up in flames.

Although, upon further reading, I might have interpreted that wrong – as legend has it he was actually sitting around playing a fiddle while Rome was reduced to a smouldering crater, with some historians suggesting that his lackadaisical approach might have had something to do with wanting a shiny new palace.

Either way, Nero didn’t have far to look for a culprit to blame, telling anyone who would listen that a “dangerous new cult” was behind the fire, promising to find all these so-called “Christians” and stamp out their weird new monotheistic religion.

No spoilers for noticing what an appalling job he did on that front, too.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to be hunted down and fed to the lions by a crazy Roman Emperor in order to get your hands on the info you need this morning, because – as always – I’ve worked super-hard to gather together lots of fiddly little things below, so you don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,467.02/oz (-0.07%)

Silver: US$30.86/oz (-1.75%)

Nickel (3mth): US$16,653/t (+1.35%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,642/t (+0.81%)

Zinc: US$2,860/t (-1.50%)

Oil (WTI): US$79.57/bbl (-1.53%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.57/bbl (-0.18%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$109.39/t (-0.26%)

AUD/USD: 0.6736 (+0.07%)

Bitcoin: US$65,648.70 (+0.88%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Labyrinth Resources (ASX:LRL) was the big Ressie winner yesterday – here’s all the details and a few other diggers who done good and played strong, full credit to the boys, and all that other great footy guff.

.@Labyrinth_Res ( #ASX : $LRL ) is the big ressie winner today. #Resources #stocks in the news: Somerset Minerals ( $SMM ) and @peakolimited ( $PKO ). | #SmallCaps https://t.co/pVaJtQYB0c

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) July 17, 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
LRL	Labyrinth Resources	0.015	200%	35,948,127	$5,937,719
XGL	Xamble Group Limited	0.030	50%	238,022	$5,923,142
AUK	Aumake Limited	0.003	50%	1,787,291	$3,828,814
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.003	50%	1,465,653	$4,235,549
TD1	Tali Digital Limited	0.002	50%	10,000	$3,295,156
WNR	Wingara Ag Ltd	0.011	38%	75,558	$1,404,340
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.004	33%	198,436	$3,246,207
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.002	33%	100,000	$4,833,150
PKO	Peako Limited	0.004	33%	1,934,160	$1,581,254
ATH	Alterity Therap Ltd	0.007	30%	116,668,586	$26,225,577
HLX	Helix Resources	0.003	25%	9,139,041	$6,528,387
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.003	25%	600,000	$17,178,239
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.003	25%	487,000	$24,408,512
ADN	Andromeda Metals Ltd	0.021	24%	31,138,086	$52,874,606
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.011	22%	1,594,279	$5,410,643
KLI	Killiresources	0.120	20%	3,629,718	$12,022,374
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.003	20%	10,943	$7,923,243
HXL	Hexima	0.012	20%	270,178	$1,670,396
TYX	Tyranna Res Ltd	0.006	20%	648,914	$16,439,627
TTT	Titomic Limited	0.168	20%	9,773,198	$141,536,937
STP	Step One Limited	1.745	20%	886,323	$270,596,825
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.013	18%	279,505	$9,076,641
REZ	Resourc & En Grp Ltd	0.017	18%	1,478,117	$9,052,948
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.293	17%	1,068,375	$44,250,000
HAW	Hawthorn Resources	0.070	17%	58,488	$20,100,937

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Labyrinth Resources (ASX:LRL), is the big little winner on Wednesday, after entering a 12-month option to acquire the remaining 49% of its Comet Vale gold project from Sand Queen Gold Mines for a cool $3m cash.

Comet Vale, 32km south of Menzies, is currently endowed with a resource of 96,000oz at 4.8g/t gold. It’s also snapping up the Vivien gold project by acquiring private company Distilled, whereby its vendors Alex Hewlett and Kelvin Flynn are expected to emerge with 12.3% and 10.2% voting power in LRL once transactions are finalised.

Vivien was famously mined by WA gold success story Ramelius Resources (ASX:RMS), generating $130m in net cash flow on a $10m purchase from Gold Fields.

It gives previously Canada-focused Labyrinth more exposure in the Goldfields and is part of its strategy to build ounces by consolidating and growing underexplored high-grade mines around the Menzies, Leinster and Leonora corridor.

And ahead by 40% is the local biotech with a penchant for targeting neurodegenerative diseases, Alterity Therapeutics (ASX:ATH), which climbed on positive interim data from the ATH434-202 open-label Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA), which has been shown to pre-clinically reduce α-synuclein pathology and preserve neuronal function by restoring normal iron balance in the brain. This is good news… trust me, I’m not a doctor.

Step One Clothing (ASX:STP), dropped a handsome uptick to forward guidance, which says – subject to final audit – the company now expects its FY24 financial results to be $84 million in FY24 revenue (vs FY23 $65 million), that’s circa 30% growth on the prior corresponding period (pcp), with $17 million in FY24 EBITDA (vs FY23 $12 million), an over 42% bump on pcp.

Titomic (ASX:TTT) continued to rise a day after the announcement it’d hired seasoned US Defence industry executive, Dr Patricia Dare. Dr Dare, (rumoured to be former Marvel villain now using her powers for good), and former Boeing and Lockheed executive is on board to further push TTT into the US Defence sector following its cracking headway into that lucrative sector on the top of recent contract wins.

And Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN) was up, thanks to news of a binding with Traxys Europe for the sale and purchase of Andromeda’s kaolin products for the first 5 years of production, which the company says has helped it to meet the required support needed for its expanded Stage 1A+ production and further progress towards a final investment decision.

AusQuest (ASX:AQD) is up good this arvo after kicking off a detailed VTEM survey ( half paid for by the WA Government via its “Co-Funded Geophysics Program”) over itsMt Davis Base Metal Project, in WA’s Earaheedy Basin.

Acquired following the discovery by Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR) of extensive lead, zinc and copper mineralisation at the Chinook Prospect on the southern side of the Earaheedy Basin, MD Graeme Drew says detailed magnetics for the Mt Davis Project provide “strong evidence for the presence of either structurally disjointed Frere Iron Formation or extensive thick mafic intrusions, or both.”

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
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.001	-50%	50,000	$7,427,417
JTL	Jayex Technology Ltd	0.001	-50%	587,965	$562,557
DTI	DTI Group Ltd	0.009	-36%	4,157	$6,279,720
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.002	-33%	2,799,998	$7,106,578
SIT	Site Group Int Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,014,459	$7,807,471
AX8	Accelerate Resources	0.015	-32%	10,111,659	$13,656,587
CAQ	CAQ Holdings Ltd	0.011	-31%	911,383	$11,484,580
MXO	Motio Ltd	0.012	-25%	3,121,566	$4,291,174
PUR	Pursuit Minerals	0.003	-25%	996,899	$14,541,600
BEZ	Besragoldinc	0.075	-24%	4,474,215	$41,391,990
ITM	Itech Minerals Ltd	0.079	-21%	913,435	$12,228,356
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	-20%	494,453	$2,524,913
MSG	Mcs Services Limited	0.004	-20%	3,215,382	$990,498
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.002	-20%	111,027	$15,493,615
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	500,000	$27,111,136
ICI	Icandy Interactive	0.025	-19%	2,734,725	$41,690,070
SRH	Saferoads Holdings	0.041	-18%	150,000	$2,185,270
KM1	Kalimetalslimited	0.175	-17%	437,003	$16,133,801
LPM	Lithium Plus	0.125	-17%	866,580	$19,851,000
RON	Roninresourcesltd	0.125	-17%	270	$5,523,752
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.005	-17%	2,480,090	$6,707,934
ICG	Inca Minerals Ltd	0.005	-17%	3,150,107	$4,863,219
SP3	Specturltd	0.020	-17%	509,831	$6,419,959
PAM	Pan Asia Metals	0.077	-16%	252,977	$17,067,688