Good morning everyone, and welcome to Thursday, 16 November – a date on the Great Musical Calendar that will forever be remembered as the day the world was nearly permanently spared the insufferable presence of U2 frontman Bono, following a “high energy bicycle accident” in 2014.

Sadly for most people, Bono not only survived being toppled from his bicycle but went on to deliver even more earnest torment on those around the globe, including this memorable moment when he and The Edge decided that playing a secret gig together from the safety of the bottom of a Ukraine train station escalator would bring an end to hostilities with Russia.

 

 

Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

The lesson here is pretty clear – ”Let’s go there and sing” isn’t really an appropriate response to an unfolding humanitarian crisis, lads. Next time, stay home and say dumb things on X, like a normal person.

Anyway… to prep you for the day ahead, we’ve got a bunch of great stories from our dedicated Stockhead team, none of whom have ever decided to hold an impromptu performance in an underground train station to send a message to Vladimir Putin.

Those stories include Josh Chiat’s excellent coverage of Argonaut’s list of best ASX undeveloped projects, and Eddy Sunarto’s top-medicine cabinet drawer look at stuff that happened in biotechs over the past fortnight.

Christian Edwards squeezed three stocks picks out of Kyle Rodda that seem pretty solid in these yield-flipping times.

Plus, as always, here’s all the fiddly data and digits to get you up to speed this morning as well.

 

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$1,959.14 (-0.18%)

Silver: US$23.43 (+1.52%)

Nickel (3mth): US$17,487/t (+0.51%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,235/t (+0.83%)

Oil (WTI): US$76.41 (-2.36%)

Oil (Brent): US$81.02 (-1.75%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$129.25/t (+0.37%)

AUD/USD: 0.6510 (+0.08%)

Bitcoin: US$37,673 (+6.03%)

 

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Everyone’s gone a bit Resources mad the past few days, and this excellent snapshot certainly grabbed us by the socials yesterday.

 

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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Yesterday’s Small Caps highlights were:

Up enormously – but off one of the biggest collapses in 2023 – it looks like Firebrick Pharma (ASX:FRE) has had a reprieve. And a good one at that.

Firebrick has been developing and commercialising a povidone-iodine nasal spray called Nasodine with all the international trademarks and patents – some of which have already been granted in the US, Europe and here.

There’s been six clinical trials to date for Nasodine, including a Phase 1 study, three Phase 2 studies and two Phase 3 studies, which have affirmed the product’s
safety and generally supported its efficacy as an antimicrobial nasal spray with utility in a range of uses.

But… Firebrick has been continuing its investigation into the results of the 2022-2023 Phase 3 common cold trial (2023 Trial), which in short, it reckons was a dud.

Now an indie expert agrees:

“The model outcomes strongly indicate major inaccuracies in the 2023 trial data, casting doubt on its reliability. This raises significant concerns about using the 2023
data to draw conclusions about the efficacy of the active versus placebo in that trial.”

So maybe the spray does cure the common cold after all…

Findi (ASX:FND) was up over 100% early and while buying calmed some in the sharp light of arvo, the gains were still impressive.

Everything you need to know about FND is in this rather timely peice of journalism Eddy wrote till the wee hours and filed just before the open. What a legend. What a gun. What a shame he’s too skint to put ten quid on the nose.

… because yesterday morning FND dropped the news that its Indian subsidiary, Transaction Solutions International, had raised circa $38 million via placement ahead of its groundbreaking Indian IPO this week.

That money has come via leading Indian investment group, Piramal Alternatives, by way of Compulsory Convertible Debenture which are compulsorily convertible to equity at IPO.

“The entry equity valuation is based on an FY23 EBITDA multiple and reflects a pre-IPO market capitalisation of $153.0 million (post money $190.6 million) ahead of TSI India’s intended listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange,” Findi says.

Also up: lots of little ASX lithium miners.

 

YESTERDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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TRADING HALTS

Karoon Energy (ASX:KAR) – Pending an announcement regarding a potential transaction

Mithril Resources (ASX:MTH) – Pending an announcement in connection to the scheme of arrangement with Newrange Gold

Mako Gold (ASX:MKG) – Pending an announcement regarding a capital raising

Virdis Mining and Minerals (ASX:VNM) – Pending the release of an announcement in relation to drill assay results from the Company’s Colossus project

Panoramic Resources (ASX:PAN) – Pending an update on financial, strategic and operational matters

Asra Minerals (ASX:ASR) – Pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raising

 

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