It’s Monday morning (allegedly), following a weekend that just doesn’t quite feel like it was long enough. That might be because we’re heading into the dreaded “week before Father’s Day”, when every dad in Australia deals with having their hopes for a decent gift gradually built up by the well-meaning – if slightly daft – fruits of their loins.

But then the day itself rolls round, and those hopes are dashed in very short order by the gifting of five sets of black business socks, three mismatched pairs of undies and an elderly Tom Clancy novel that obviously came from an op-shop, which you’re doomed to get around 40% of the way through before the book mysteriously vanishes… just like it’s done for the past nine Father’s Days in a row.

Or it might be because I’m writing this on Sunday morning, because that would certainly explain why the weekend feels like it’s been a lot shorter than the one we had last week.

Having had a look at how things went on Wall Street on Friday, we might be in for a half-decent day when the bell rings later this morning, and – because we like you and want to see you doing well – our team has been busy putting together a veritable panoply of stories to get you up to speed before the action kicks off at 10:00am.

Yes, a panoply.

That includes an in-depth look into the Aussie biotechs that are working hard to save the Australian economy billions of dollars every year with their work on stopping and/or treating strokes… and changing the lives of stroke victims and their families, of course.

Plus, Stockhead’s resident expert on all things China, Christian Edwards, has been digging deeper into the strange and savage state of affairs behind the Bamboo Curtain.

And Josh Chiat’s got his own unique take on what’s going on in the Wonderful World of Zinc, in a bid to understand why zinc isn’t occupying it’s well-deserved spot between vanadium and zirconium on the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ Critical Minerals List.

Those fat cats in Canberra have a lot to answer for. Maybe they should get out in the sun a bit more.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,968.7 (-0.03%)

Silver: US$23.25 (+0.01%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,863/t (-1.04%)

Copper (3mth): US$8377.48/t (-0.03%)

Oil (WTI): US$81.26  (-0.68%)

Oil (Brent): US$84.63 (-0.71%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$107.41/t (-0.91%)

AUD/USD: 0.65  (+0.7%)

Bitcoin: US$29,155.70 (-0.08%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Friday’s effort on the ASX was, frankly, a bit crap – so it’s no wonder that gold was back on everyone’s lips over the weekend.

 

 

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Friday’s Small Caps standouts were:

Sabre Resources (ASX:SBR) jumped over 40% following an ASX update which had “lithium”, “Andover” and “major” in the title.

“Sabre told the market that it has gobbled up a slightly larger slice of the prospective lithium pie near Azure’s barnstomer Andover project, which it plans to explore,” someone said.

That’s it. So skyward it went.

Bravura Solutions (ASX:BVS) baffled to the upside by almost 30% – a gain directly attributable to an earnings report which “achieved guidance across all metrics with a significant closing cash balance”, before laying out all the bad news.

The finance sector management software maker jumped after dropping some unpleasant results which may have given investors the nudge that the worst is behind it.

Bravura’s operating expenses rose from $221.3 million to $257.7 million, operating EBITDA declined $53.4m, from $45.3 million in the pcp to a deficit of $8.1 million and an adjusted NPAT of -$23.1 million, which represents a $48.8m decline against the pcp figure of $25.7 million.

From the earnings announcement:

Bravura’s trading performance has driven the requirement and urgency for change. This has resulted in a new CEO, Chair and refreshed board joining Bravura in 2HFY23.

FY23 was a year of underperformance and great disappointment for shareholders, and the Company acknowledges it will take time to rebuild trust.

That last line was wrong, apparently.

Nickel-cobalt hopeful Australian Mines (ASX:AUZ) gained almost 20% on no news – the last time the market heard from AUZ was when we all got told last week that CEO Michael Holmes is exiting the company to “pursue other interests” at the end of October.

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV) finished strong, ahead by around 14% ostensibly on recent news of new gold targets and an updated JORC tables from its Lulu Creek project, and finally, as Gregor (that’s me) cannot lie: “Metals Australia (ASX:MLS) has jumped 17%, for no apparent reason.”

Brisbane-based Great Divide Mining (ASX:GDM) is a brand-new entrant to the local bourse and made an immediate impression on investors following a $5 million public offering.

The company is focusing on a high-potential portfolio of gold and critical metals assets with initial emphasis on its Yellow Jack gold project in Greenvale, Queensland.

That’s a shallow, open-resource site that, the company notes, has close proximity to existing heap leach and Carbon-in-Pulp process plants enabling project development with limited capital expenditure.

 

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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TRADING HALTS

Sarytogan Graphite (ASX:SGA): Processing material metallurgical test results before release to the market

Queensland Pacific Metals (ASX:QPM): Pending financial close of the Moranbah Project acquisition

Diablo Resources (ASX:DBO): Pending an announcement regarding exploration results

Buxton Resources (ASX: BUX): Pending an announcement of assay results from the Copper Wolf Project

Elixir Energy (ASX:EXR): Pending an announcement about fundraising

Black Cat Syndicate (ASX:BC8): Pending an announcement about capital raising

Raiden Resources (ASX:RDN): Proposed capital raise

 

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