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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to the day after a day on the ASX that didn’t suck anywhere near as bad as other days that I can conjure up from recent memory.

I feel that it’s important to inform you that today is Special, because it’s Taco Trader Tuesday, a name I’ve decided on a complete whim to foist upon the ASX as a designation of the final trading Tuesday of the month.

It could be because I had tacos for dinner last night. Or it could be because, despite having tacos for dinner last night, I actually quite fancy another round of tacos this morning. Or it could just be because I am currently experience severe “diner’s remorse” because of last night’s tacos, and will likely continue to experience said remorse for at least the next 8-9 hours.

The overarching issue being, of course, that there aren’t a lot of places open at this time of the day that are willing, or even able, to make a decent taco.

So-called “Breakfast Burritos” don’t count, because they are A) Almost definitely a sinful abomination in the eyes of whichever deity you’ve decided to dedicate your entire existence to, and B) Absolutely definitely Not Tacos.

Don’t be fooled. Don’t fall for the marketing hype, the blatant false advertising or especially the peer pressure. Breakfast burritos are the inferior foodstuff in every possible way.

That’s a hill I am prepared to die on, and I will happily meet anyone who disagrees in the parking, to settle it in the traditional manner of their choosing… from the following three options:

1. A cockfight (Difficulty level ‘Easy’ – domestic chicken breeds only)
2. A cockfight (Difficulty level ‘Hardcore’ – No chickens)
3. A footrace (Difficulty level ‘Nightmare’ – Runners must wear live chickens on their feet)

Anyway – In case you’re not quite as fanatical about early morning Tex-Mex foodstuffs as I am, fret not… We’ve got plenty of good things for you to consume this morning before the market opens.

For instance, Josh Chiat has got a super-interesting look at an ongoing not-quite-cold war between two of the world’s biggest miners, Glencore and Teck. It’s a belter of a yarn, I promise.

Alongside that, Jess Cummins has penned a glorious deep dive into the predators and prey among the ASX-listed lithium players, and Eddy Sunarto’s been hitting the phones to find out which brokers are backing (or backing away from) which stocks this week.

As always, there’s plenty of other bits and pieces to get your head around before the markets open… and here they are:

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,920.91 (+0.33%)

Silver: US$24.21 (-0.02%)

Nickel (3mth): US$20,770/t (-0.28%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,358/t (-0.01%)

Oil (WTI): US$80.03  (+0.25%)

Oil (Brent): US$84.36 (-0.14%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$108.31/t (+0.09%)

AUD/USD: 0.6432  (+0.2%)

Bitcoin: US$26,040 (-0.12%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

The only thing that angries up the blood more than reading a story about the Aussie property market, is downing six shots of dark rum while a stranger hits on your missus as she’s reading a story about the Aussie property market.

Roy Morgan calculates #mortgage risk could increase to over 1.57m of us if the #RBA raises #rates by +0.25% in September. #interestrates #property #realestate https://t.co/l632LpylNp

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) August 28, 2023

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:

Yesterday’s Small Caps standouts were:

Melbana Energy (ASX:MAY) says the Alameda-2 well just had a successful flow test of lighter oil to surface.

Bullies include:

• Peak flow to surface 1,903 barrels of oil per day from Unit 1B (stabilised average flow rate 1,235 barrels of oil per day)
• Significantly lighter (19° API) and lower viscosity (30 cP) oil compared to other units in the Amistad Formation
• Over 1,000 barrels of oil produced and trucked away during testing
• No formation water observed during the flow test or from logs
• Unit 1B now being completed to allow for future production

So, the Alameda-2 appraisal well produced oil to surface from Unit 1A, achieved strong flow rates of a higher quality crude from Unit 1B, proved the existence of moveable oil from Unit 3 and confirmed a significant increase in logged Net Pay to 615 metres TVD (with fractures) for the Amistad sheet in total – about 45% of the gross section, the company says.

MAY Boss Andrew Purcell:

“It has been a tremendous success and gives us more shorter-term production options to consider when finalising our field development plan.”

Shares are 41% higher.

Sarytogan Graphite (ASX:SGA) has continued its trouncing of Monday, finding lots of support on news that ‘thermal purification has far exceeded battery anode material grade’ for its Kazakh graphite deposit.

SGA is teets deep in graphite at its project in lovely graphite-rich Central Kazakhstan.

The company says that the thermal purification of its graphite has achieved a 99.99% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) result, with the sample being a “representative 50g sample of Sarytogan Graphite previously treated by flotation and alkaline roasting to 99.70% TGC”.

Good numbers. Badman knows more.

4DS Memory (ASX:4DS) pretty much makes computer semiconductor memory and it’s jumped another 29% or so. That’s a good story which happened last week. Seems it’s still a good story as the word spreads.

Buxton Resources (ASX:BUX) returned “exceptional” assay results from its maiden diamond drill hole at its Copper Wolf project in Arizona, USA, which kicked off in April this year.

It’s the first exploration in the project area since 1993, with drillhole CW0001DD targeting areas proximal to and beneath historical hole RC-UC-17 which ended in porphyry style copper-molybdenum mineralisation.

The nice bits: returns of 83.76 metres at 0.86% CuEq from 527.91 metres with assays up to 2.35% CuEq.

And Energy One (ASX:EOL) was cruising at altitude after receiving one of those always welcome confidential, indicative, incomplete, conditional and non-binding proposals from the global investment firm, STG.

STG has nearly US$10 billion of assets under management and a portfolio that includes software and software-enabled services companies.

The Indicative Proposal, EOL told the ASX, is to acquire all of the issued shares in Energy One at an indicative price of A$5.85 cash per share by way of a scheme of arrangement.

That’s a ~44% premium to Energy One’s undisturbed closing price of A$4.05 on 25 August 2023.

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:

TRADING HALTS

Orora (ASX:ORA): Orora confirms that it is currently in discussions regarding a potential transaction involving a material acquisition.

Matsa Resources (ASX:MAT): Pending an announcement in relation to a proposed capital raising.

GCX Metals (ASX:GCX): Pending an announcement regarding the potential acquisition of a resource project.

Toubani Resources (ASX:TRE): Proposed capital raising.

Dundas Minerals (ASX:DUN): Pending an announcement regarding a project acquisition.

Lodestar Minerals (ASX:LSR): Pending an announcement regarding a project acquisition.

Firebird Metals (ASX:FRB):  Pending release of an announcement in relation to the results of an updated scoping study for its flagship Oakover Manganese project.