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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Wednesday, October 16, 2024 – an important date in the history of gender studies.

That’s because it was on this day in 1384 that Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland – despite quite clearly being a woman.

The crowning of a woman king came about due to some pretty severe infighting among Polish nobles, around the death of Louis the Great, King of Hungary.

The ascension plan for the throne centred around Jadwiga’s older sister Mary, who was engaged to Sigismund of Luxembourg, where they lived quite happily and didn’t fancy living in Poland, if the history books are to be believed.

So, Jadwiga’s mother Elizabeth of Bosnia had other plans, and played an end-game around Sigismund and Mary, by having Jadwiga crowned King – because Jadwiga was unmarried at the time, and Polish law at the time didn’t really make much of the idea that a woman could take the throne just as well as a fella.

Jadwiga’s hand in marriage was promised, however, to William of Austria, and indeed she had lived in the Austrian capital Vienna for quite some time. Upon learning that she was to be crowned King, William sped for Poland in order to marry and claim the throne for himself – only to be turned away, because in his absence, Jadwiga had done a deal with Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, to marry him on the proviso that he give up his Pagan ways and get his subjects to convert to Catholicism.

Jogaila was crowned King of Poland in August 1835, but… it was in a co-ruler arrangement that meant that Jadwiga technically remained King of Poland until her death in 1399.

Luckily for you, you won’t have to navigate ridiculous marriage preconditions in order to get your hands on good pre-market info today.

That’s because – as always – we’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$2,646.06/oz (-0.21%)

Silver: US$31.35/oz (-0.13%)

Iron Ore: US$107.85/t (+0.24%)

Nickel (3mth): US$17,612/t (+2.71%)

Copper (3mth): US$9,526/t (-0.73%)

Zinc: US$3,063/t (-1.42%)

Oil (WTI): US$71.80/bbl (-0.13%)

Oil (Brent): US$75.31/bbl (+0.16%)

AUD/USD: 0.6715 (-0.10%)

Bitcoin: US$65,535.10 (+2.4%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

All the latest from the world of Health stocks, courtesy of in-house biotech genius Tim Boreham.

Health Check: It’s all in the vibe as Invion and Wellness Life shrink to share greatness > https://t.co/H5ZeqK2vO6

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 15, 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
NVU	Nanoveu Limited	0.093	98%	38,482,090	$10,855,838
A1G	African Gold Ltd.	0.005	43%	88,575,151	$16,871,097
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.070	37%	6,653,828	$14,555,373
EG1	Evergreenlithium	0.002	33%	282,389	$2,867,730
MTL	Mantle Minerals Ltd	0.004	33%	1,053,257	$9,296,169
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.004	33%	4,627,844	$4,669,045
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.450	27%	500,000	$14,509,798
UBN	Urbanise.Com Ltd	0.025	25%	48,548	$22,900,696
ADO	Anteotech Ltd	0.003	25%	13,415,939	$49,795,400
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.005	25%	1,167,000	$57,867,624
ADG	Adelong Gold Limited	0.003	25%	7,043,289	$4,471,956
GCR	Golden Cross	0.003	25%	6,000	$2,194,512
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.031	24%	3,209,637	$13,533,183
ASQ	Australian Silica	0.033	22%	84,415	$7,046,509
TZL	TZ Limited	0.017	21%	416,189	$6,927,744
BDG	Black Dragon Gold	0.006	20%	418,671	$3,745,247
BPP	Babylon Pump & Power	0.006	20%	3,140,000	$12,497,745
CUL	Cullen Resources	0.003	20%	18,530	$3,467,009
IBG	Ironbark Zinc Ltd	0.067	20%	596,274	$4,584,120
RSH	Respiri Limited	0.013	18%	8,017,092	$72,294,260
GLA	Gladiator Resources	0.013	18%	1,666,411	$8,341,265
LEG	Legend Mining	0.004	17%	1,155,492	$32,004,249
CDT	Castle Minerals	0.028	17%	433,704	$4,118,442

Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) came rocketing up the charts just before lunch on news that it is set to acquire 100% of Embedded A.I. Systems, including the latter’s proprietary “System on a Chip” business and all associated IP for $5 million in shares, plus performance rights. The company released a comprehensive presentation about the acquisition this morning, which is kinda complicated but well worth reading, as it looks genuinely exciting.

African Gold (ASX:A1G) was up by more than 100% this morning on news of drilling results, which included a “spectacular, wide, high-grade intercept” of 65.0m at 5.6 g/t of gold from 177m, along with shallow intercepts of 9.0m at 1.7 g/t of gold from 23m, and 28m at 1.1 g/t of gold from 77m. There have also been changes to the company’s board announced this morning, with Adam Oehlman stepping in as chief executive officer, and Phillip Gallagher set to step down as managing director.

Invion (ASX:IVX) was trading higher on news of a share consolidation, with the effective date pegged for 18 October, with the number of securities falling from 6.76 billion to a far more manageable 6.76 million.

Eclipse Metals (ASX:EPM) was up on news of “promising preliminary findings from an extensive HyperXRF assessment of historical drill core”, which the company says shows evidence of “extensive rare earth resource potential” at its Grønnedal prospect within the Ivigtût project in southwestern Greenland.

AnteoTech (ASX:ADO) was rising on news that the company has received the first commercial order for its proprietary Ultranode battery anode technology containing 70% silicon, from leading European EV manufacturer EV1, which is seeking step change in silicon content for their next generation EV batteries.

Second-stage soil sampling at Adelong Gold (ASX:ADG)’s namesake gold project in NSW has identified further drill targets in the area northwest of the Adelong Mill and along strike from the Currajong deposit.

The company says 30% of the samples contained over 0.1g/t gold, which indicates proximity to the gold sources while peak results of 3.03g/t and 1.39g/t were also received. Some elevated gold in soil samples are at the end of traverses, which requires follow-up sampling. It added that this appeared to delineate target zones and a drilling program is being planned to upgrade and extend resources within the scoping study area (Challenger, Currajong and Caledonian) to support an upgraded study.

Volt Resources (ASX:VRC) successfully rebooted the Zavalievsky graphite project in Tanzania yesterday and has plans to produce various graphite grades starting with high quality graphite ore via multi shift operation. The junior acquired a 70% stake in the project in 2021 which has a processing plant, mining equipment and power substation and a revised feasibility study for a Stage 1 development will see an annual run rate of 400,000tpa to produce 24,7800tpa of graphite.

Earlier, eHealth tech player Respiri (ASX:RSH) rose on news that it has secured a A$1.6 million strategic placement at A$0.045 per share representing a 4% premium on the 10-day VWAP, via high-performing institutional investor Merchant Biotech Fund and other associated prominent investors including Hamma Capital.

And Lithium Australia (ASX:LIT) was up after releasing its quarterly report this morning, featuring news that recycling operations have generated revenue of ~A$2.5m and gross profit of ~A$1.7m, representing a record gross profit margin of 70%, while also continuing to achieve operating cash profits.

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
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.001	-50%	182,857	$2,596,294
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.002	-33%	8,197	$25,767,375
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.002	-33%	332,333	$6,997,367
ATH	Alterity Therap Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,337,679	$21,281,344
CRB	Carbine Resources	0.003	-25%	1,050,000	$2,206,951
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.002	-25%	250,000	$3,657,305
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.007	-22%	10,515,736	$15,025,782
FTZ	Fertoz Ltd	0.022	-21%	108,083	$8,300,895
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.012	-20%	1,519,449	$9,785,217
GTI	Gratifii	0.004	-20%	500,000	$10,745,981
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.002	-20%	948,016	$14,737,667
RC1	Redcastle Resources	0.009	-18%	498,000	$4,513,584
ADR	Adherium Ltd	0.014	-18%	1,565,848	$12,895,859
BUY	Bounty Oil & Gas NL	0.005	-17%	402,225	$8,991,006
PUR	Pursuit Minerals	0.003	-17%	510,682	$10,906,200
AJX	Alexium Int Group	0.011	-15%	100,000	$20,460,424
TOU	Tlou Energy Ltd	0.023	-15%	403,687	$35,061,777
JBY	James Bay Minerals	0.300	-14%	1,165,143	$11,704,875
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.006	-14%	3,203,650	$19,660,775
MRQ	Mrg Metals Limited	0.003	-14%	100,000	$9,490,315
VTM	Victory Metals Ltd	0.330	-14%	410,851	$39,750,896

TRADING HALTS

Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) – pending the release of an announcement regarding a material acquisition and associated capital raising.

Cygnus Gold (ASX:CY5) – pending the release of an announcement regarding a capital raising, and a potential merger.

ClearVue Technologies (ASX:CPV) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raising.

Blaze Minerals (ASX:BLZ) – pending the release of an announcement regarding an acquisition.

One Click Group (ASX:1CG) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raising.

Astron Corporation (ASX:ATR) – pending an announcement in connection with an equity issue.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.