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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Friday 29 September, 2023 – a date on the calendar memorable for a number of funky things, including the time when Spain, in 1883, was technically ruled by a two-year-old girl.

Before Spain’s King Ferdinand VII fell ill and died, he had tried his best, over and over, to sire a son to ascend to the throne upon his death, but couldn’t. So when he keeled over, his daughter Isabella was plonked on the throne – barely able to toddle, let alone rule.

Her coronation was held before lunch after which she was taken to the Royal Chambers for an afternoon nap, sparking the Spanish tradition of having a cheeky siesta in the afternoon that persists to this day.

Her uncle Infante Carlos quite cleverly cottoned on to the fact that a baby can’t possibly be an effective monarch, and challenged Isabella’s position. When he didn’t get his way, he started a war which ended badly for him.

Isabella turned 13, and was allowed to be the actual Queen from then on, but suffered under the yoke of her advisers to such a degree that she was forced to marry the Duke of Cádiz, Francisco de Asís.

The Duke was a terrible choice of husband for the 16-year-old Queen for two clear reasons.

1. They were double-cousins, sharing not just one set of grandparents as first cousins do, but sharing both sets of grandparents.
2. The Duke was very much into an entirely different kind of “queens”.

“”What shall I tell you about a man whom I saw wearing more lace than I was wearing on our wedding night?” Isabella reportedly told a close friend.

So, Queen Isabella decided that the right thing to do was have a ton of affairs, starting within a year of her wedding day when she hooked up with Francisco Serrano Domínguez Cuenca y Pérez de Vargas.

General Serrano was rewarded for bedding the Queen by being posted to far-flung Granada – but he found his way back and eventually became Prime Minister.

A few years later, Isabella was saved from an assassination attempt by the thick gold broquet she wore on the industrial-quality corset she favoured for keeping her rapidly expanding frame less circular while out in public.

But she kept hooking up with basically anyone other than hubby, had a ton of kids, annoyed her decreasingly loyal subjects and was ousted in 1868 after a lengthy revolution that went for two entire years, but would probably have taken like four months, tops, if it weren’t for all the napping.

It’s a cautionary tale about how knowing what the right thing to do at the right time is likely to stop you from being on the wrong side of history, or a revolution, or something.

So that’s why (he says, drawing an incredibly long bow) our team’s been busy putting together the best info we can – so you’ll know what moves to make, once the market opens this morning.

Tons of stuff here to read this morning – but be sure to check out Josh Chiat’s brilliant look at why the majors are snapping up lithium juniors like they’re Pokemon, and has kicked off our Ten Bagger series with Lowell Resources Fund chief investment officer John Forwood that does everything it says on the box.

As always, here’s the recent stuff that’s been happening around the place – just to get you in the mood and ready for Friday.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,865.08 (-0.53%)

Silver: US$22.65 (+0.63%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,985/t (-0.09%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,215/t (+1.24%)

Oil (WTI): US$91.94 (-1.85%)

Oil (Brent): US$95.12 (-1.46%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$120.84/t (+0.00%)

AUD/USD: 0.6427 (+0.06%)

Bitcoin: US$27,067 (+2.90%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Turns out that Australians are, apparently, awful at flipping homes – which is hardly surprising because they’re bloody heavy, and can be quite awkward to lift – but it’s what you lot were keen on reading about yesterday, so if you missed it, check it out here.

Aussies are just awful at flipping homes.#property #realestate #investing https://t.co/P0a4MvNTuc

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) September 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 highlights were:

Pioneer Lithium (ASX:PLN) topped the charts with a belter of a debut, going live on the market after a heavily oversubscribed $5 million IPO, thanks to the company’s “multi-asset portfolio of strategically located lithium projects in Ontario and Quebec, Canada”.

That includes the Root Lake (90% owned) and Lauri Lake (100% owned) Projects in Ontario and the LaGrande (100% owned) Lithium Project in Quebec’s world-class James Bay region.

It’s the Root Lake project that will be the immediate focus for PLN, positioned directly between Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) Root Bay and Morrison/McCombe lithium deposits, and its James Bay Quebec LaGrande Project.

PLN’s trading price closed up 80% for the day.

First Lithium (ASX:FL1) – formerly known as (Ookami) jumped back to work on the ASX after a long and lonely suspension. FL1 stock clocked in at over +41% by lunch in a warm welcome back, to finish the day up more than 47%

FL1 is hunting spodumene in Mali, just down the road from Goulamina where China’s Ganfeng and $700 million capped ASX developer Leo Lithium (ASX:LLL) plan to open Africa’s first major spod mine next year at a world class 500,000tpa.

You should read Reub’s and Josh’s work on this one – it’s complicated, and they’re far better at explaining it than I am.

MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) finished up 26.5% because “lithium”, which seemed to be the hard driver for Small Caps yesterday.

MTC recently announced that it bought a hard rock lithium project in… you guessed it… James Bay, and this morning announced that “highly respected lithium industry executive” Robert Sills has been added to the board as a non-executive technical director.

The other big winner was Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI), which climbed 34.6% after confirming that recent media speculation regarding discussions between Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile and LPI about a potential transaction were, indeed, true.

However, the company did make it quite clear that the discussions are still in their infancy, nothing’s been decided and as such there’s not much more to add at this stage.

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

Australian Potash (ASX:APC) – Pending the release  of an announcement in relation to a capital raising

Meeka Gold (ASX:MEK) – Pending the release  of an announcement in relation to a capital raising

Moho Resources (ASX:MOH) – Pending the release  of an announcement in relation to a capital raising

Tempus Resources (ASX:TMR) – Pending the release  of an announcement in relation to a capital raising