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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Wednesday, 25 October.

Aussie shares are poised to rise at the open, tracking movements on Wall Street overnight. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 index futures was pointing up by +0.4%.

On Stockhead today…

How can ASX stocks capitalise on the growing Chinese middle class and younger generation concerned about their health and wellness? Nadine McGrath is there for you. (*Not actually in China.) Peter Strachan continues his look at the value in ASX oil and gas stocks, and Josh Chiat “zooms out” for a look at the week’s iron ore and coal moves and news.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,970.67 (-0.1%)

Silver: US$22.90 (-0.34%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,177/t (-2.21%)

Copper (3mth): US$7,972/t (+0.3%)

Oil (WTI): US$83.88 (-1.87%)

Oil (Brent): US$88.15 (-1.92%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$118.19/t (-0.22%)

AUD/USD: 0.6355 (+0.25%)

Bitcoin: US$34,103 (+7.11%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Are you keeping one eye on the cryptomarket? Maybe you should – Bitcoin surged to over US$33k in afternoon trading on Tuesday.

Are you keeping half an eye on #crypto? Maybe you should. Because something is brewing here, something big. https://t.co/TPbnld1qLe

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 24, 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:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
ERW	Errawarra Resources	0.145	46%	1,313,884	$6,880,896
SDG	Sunland Group Ltd	0.078	42%	6,745,834	$7,531,119
WOA	Wide Open Agricultur	0.19	31%	839,786	$20,775,857
NSM	Northstaw	0.039	30%	24,221	$3,603,810
GRE	Greentechmetals	0.355	29%	800,397	$15,627,944
HOR	Horseshoe Metals Ltd	0.009	29%	305,840	$4,504,351
ARV	Artemis Resources	0.023	28%	5,881,735	$28,348,531
ADS	Adslot Ltd.	0.005	25%	16,166	$12,897,982
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.0025	25%	66,143	$8,459,581
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.0325	25%	89,928,142	$60,732,494
CVV	Caravel Minerals Ltd	0.16	23%	852,642	$68,156,374
NMR	Native Mineral Res	0.038	23%	986,611	$6,247,604
ID8	Identitii Limited	0.017	21%	1,680,787	$5,981,332
ZAG	Zuleika Gold Ltd	0.017	21%	366,471	$7,322,709
GRV	Greenvale Energy Ltd	0.115	21%	308,857	$41,111,938
BOD	BOD Science Ltd	0.06	20%	200,050	$8,866,925
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.006	20%	133,678	$7,575,979
LVT	Livetiles Limited	0.006	20%	766,770	$5,885,553
UCM	Uscom Limited	0.048	20%	50,000	$7,621,342
CRS	Caprice Resources	0.037	19%	200,000	$3,619,465
DCC	Digitalx Limited	0.037	19%	5,139,649	$23,111,090
WC8	Wildcat Resources	0.69	19%	19,285,399	$603,692,713
AML	Aeon Metals Ltd.	0.013	18%	142,757	$12,060,407
TNY	Tinybeans Group Ltd	0.175	17%	144,738	$12,575,789
BFC	Beston Global Ltd	0.007	17%	166,666	$11,982,281

Yesterday’s Small Caps highlights:

Errawarra Resources (ASX:ERW), if you’ve still not met somehow, is a WA explorer (mainly into nickel and lithium at present, but also gold and graphite and generally substance agnostic). Ity was up again yesterday – this time after a board change – but it hasn’t taken much of late to get the ERW squad cheering.

ASX Release: #ERW advises that Mr Jonathan Battershill resigned today as a non-executive Director, and would like to thank Mr Battershill for his contributions. #ERW welcomes Mr Bruce Garlick, appointed non-independent non-executive Director to the Board. https://t.co/pudmaymyYv pic.twitter.com/HoGpVGXxEJ

— Errawarra Resources Ltd (@errawarra) October 23, 2023

The stock of Native Mineral Resources (ASX:NMR) jumped after reporting intersected porphyry, (which indicates that zinc mineralisation increases with depth), at its Maneater Hill project in Far North Queensland.

The company was granted the tenement over Maneater Hill in July last year and subsequent drilling recorded massive, semi-massive, and disseminated sulphides for over 370m from a down-hole depth of 107m in one hole.

The long-listed developer Sunland Group (ASX:SDG) has formally applied for delisting from the ASX after near 28 years, during which it adorned the Golden Corner of southern Queensland with landmarks like ‘Q1’ and ‘Palazzo Versace.’

And also climbing aggressively late on Tuesday was Wide Open Agriculture (ASX:WOA), which last week secured final consent and approval for its 100% acquisition of Prolupin and its assets for $4.2m.

And in other big news yesterday:

One of the hottest ASX lithium stocks of 2023, Azure Minerals (ASX:AZS), has been in a trading halt since Monday pending “a potential change of control transaction”. Mining giant, SQM, which already has a major stake in the Mark Creasy-backed billion-dollar explorer, was rebuffed in a takeover bid only a couple of months ago. Maybe it came back to the table with something better for AZS, which is already up 1000% year-to-date.

Junior explorer Pioneer Lithium (ASX:PLN) discovered mineralised pegmatites from its maiden fieldwork at the Red Squirrel Prospect, adjacent to Green Technology Metals (ASX:GT1) Root Bay pegmatite sytstem.

And has the tide finally turned for Treasury Wine Estates (ASX:TWE)? Its shares firmed up after news that Chinese wine tariffs could get sorted soon. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed plans to visit Beijing next month to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, a day after China has given its first indication it’s in the mood to ‘suspend tariffs’ on Australian wine.

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	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.002	-33%	6,873,418	$8,534,403
GSM	Golden State Mining	0.023	-32%	11,917,868	$6,497,001
MKL	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.011	-27%	1,412,480	$4,893,294
DXN	DXN Limited	0.0015	-25%	800,000	$3,446,680
MXC	Mgc Pharmaceuticals	0.0015	-25%	7,143,154	$8,855,936
NVQ	Noviqtech Limited	0.003	-25%	463,561	$4,952,781
KP2	Kore Potash PLC	0.01	-23%	445,092	$8,681,443
NXS	Next Science Limited	0.23	-21%	4,208,032	$77,094,783
CYQ	Cycliq Group Ltd	0.004	-20%	4,000,000	$1,787,583
MCT	Metalicity Limited	0.002	-20%	40,000	$9,340,215
JAL	Jameson Resources	0.041	-20%	90,000	$19,967,066
TAL	Talius Group Limited	0.009	-18%	550,000	$25,147,533
DAL	Dalaroometalsltd	0.033	-18%	477,878	$3,264,000
S3N	Sensore Ltd	0.12	-17%	18,486	$5,277,020
DRE	Dreadnought Resources Ltd	0.035	-17%	33,231,392	$144,630,509
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.005	-17%	9,858,391	$17,621,879
YPB	YPB Group Ltd	0.0025	-17%	52,409	$2,230,384
HPC	Thehydration	0.031	-16%	20,000	$8,886,262
PRS	Prospech Limited	0.021	-16%	1,461,871	$5,493,999
TOY	Toys R Us	0.011	-15%	10,691,027	$11,997,935
AJX	Alexium Int Group	0.017	-15%	318	$13,165,143
MKG	Mako Gold	0.017	-15%	71,002	$11,520,164
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.017	-15%	360,660	$11,634,526
NC6	Nanollose Limited	0.04	-15%	169,439	$6,997,659
88E	88 Energy Ltd	0.006	-14%	8,627,957	$154,830,585