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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Friday 13 October – the second-spookiest day of the month, and memorable in history as the date of one of the world’s most enduring mysteries was blown out of the water, much to the chagrin of Christians everywhere.

On this day in 1988, the Archbishop of Turin announced that the Shroud of Turin – a bedsheet that allegedly bears an imprint of the face of Jesus Christ, after he was wrapped in it upon his death and eventual resurrection – had been carbon dated.

Turns out, it’s most likely a massive hoax – the carbon dating puts the creation of the shroud somewhere in the Middle Ages, a scant 500-1000 years too late to have belonged to Jesus.

It’s a good reminder that we should all be careful about blindly trusting information, and to make sure that we do our due diligence before making any major decisions.

That’s why the team here at Stockhead spends so much time and effort on getting things correct, so we can add to the knowledge you possess and help you get ready for the days on market ahead.

That’s why you should definitely dig into the mighty Bevis Yeo’s report on what’s going well in the oil and gas markets this week, and a thorough look into when – or whether – ASX fintechs can bounce back from their rate rise battering.

As always, here’s all the data and digits and bibs and bobs to get your motor running this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,869.60 (-0.21%)

Silver: US$21.82 (-1.08%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,371/t (-1.66%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,024/t (+0.02%)

Oil (WTI): US$83.25 (-0.28%)

Oil (Brent): US$86.40 (+0.69%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$117.42/t (-0.75%)

AUD/USD: 0.6314 (-1.56%)

Bitcoin: US$26,731 (+0.19%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

We haven’t forgotten about our crypto punters, I promise – and here, as proof, is our resident cryptid Rob Badman’s Mooners and Shakers column from yesterday, which got a fair bit of traction on the socials.

#Bitcoin pulled back a notch or two overnight, breaking back below the US$27k mark. Is the asset about to crash, like CNBC’s Jim Cramer seems to hope it will? https://t.co/JkXwpsqhbs

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 12, 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:

Taking the Thursday meat tray home was Redbubble (ASX:RBL) – the online marketplace connecting independent artists with customers that we don’t often hear from, but which dropped news of a remarkable turnaround and jumped +25%.

According to RBL, it’s turned to a positive underlying cash flow of $0.7 million, up $16.9 million on prior corresponding period (pcp) and up $5.5 million on the fourth quarter of FY23.

That’s allowed the company to build its cash balance to $39.9m, up $4.2m from 30 June 2023, which the company has attributed to “a number of recently-implemented initiatives, including the introduction of artist account tiers on the Redbubble and TeePublic marketplaces and a dynamic order routing system for the  Redbubble marketplace in the US, as well as further optimisation of paid marketing spend”.

Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI) also climbed, up 18.5% in very short order on no news – which was enough to have the ASX push it into a trading pause just minutes after the market opened, and then into a complete halt. Rob Badman put on his journo hat and sniffed out something takeover related, which you can read here.

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

Lithium Power International (ASX:LPI) – Pending the release of an announcement in response to the recent Bloomberg article published on 11 October 2023 involving the company and Chilean copper giant Codelco.