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

On Stockhead today …

John Forwood tells us what he likes in copper, Litchfield shows the market hasn’t completely lost its appetite for IPOs, and Traders’ Diary: everything you need to get ready for the week.

But first, the day ahead.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,155.73/oz (-0.24%)

Silver: US$25.17/oz (+1.44%)

Nickel (3mth): US$18,077/t (-1.47%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,887.50/t (-0.44%)

Oil (WTI): US$81.04 (-0.27%)

Oil (Brent): US$85.33 (-0.11%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$105.50/t (-1.86%)

AUD/USD: 0.656 (-0.30%)

Bitcoin: US$67,237 (+2.58%)

TRADING HALTS

These stocks went into trading halts Friday and are expected out in the coming days:

Aura Energy Limited (ASX:AEE) – private equity placement

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING OVER THE WEEKEND?

Crypto stumbling like last year’s AFL Grand Finalists.

⚠️BREAKING:

*BITCOIN TUMBLES TO $66,000 AS CRYPTOS PLUNGE IN SUNDAY TRADE#BTC #BITCOIN pic.twitter.com/xXYdfktioS

— Investing.com (@Investingcom) March 17, 2024

Keep up to date with Stockhead coverage, follow our Twitter page.

Also, be sure to check in at preopen each day for ‘Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to Watch’, and 10.40am for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.

LAST WEEK’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

The best performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
TSK	Task Group Holdings	0.8	108%	$279,708,923
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	100%	$4,352,462
NYM	Narryer Metals	0.05	79%	$2,575,172
MAG	Magmatic Resrce Ltd	0.08	78%	$32,057,672
RR1	Reach Resources Ltd	0.0035	75%	$9,835,977
ASP	Aspermont Limited	0.012	71%	$22,100,712
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.012	71%	$3,344,884
5GG	Pentanet	0.089	71%	$18,686,361
LBT	LBT Innovations	0.027	69%	$32,809,693
CVR	Cavalier Resources	0.18	64%	$5,570,060
AQC	Auspac Coal	0.094	59%	$48,731,921
BP8	BPH Global Ltd	0.0015	50%	$2,931,174
GCR	Golden Cross	0.003	50%	$3,291,768
PKO	Peako Limited	0.006	50%	$3,162,508
SIH	Sihayo Gold Limited	0.0015	50%	$18,306,384
SIT	Site Group Int Ltd	0.003	50%	$7,807,471
IG6	International Graphite	0.155	48%	$12,903,276
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.022	47%	$13,031,652
NYR	Nyrada In.	0.11	43%	$15,600,870
RAC	Race Oncology Ltd	1.44	41%	$217,611,753
OLL	Open Learning	0.024	41%	$6,428,858
POD	Podium Minerals	0.038	41%	$15,916,137
ARU	Arafura Rare Earths	0.23	39%	$600,678,570
BGT	Bio-Gene Technology	0.069	38%	$13,491,225
GCX	GCX Metals Limited	0.056	37%	$14,759,005
AIS	Aeris Resources Ltd	0.15	36%	$135,453,576
GTE	Great Western Exploration	0.064	36%	$21,228,648
WZR	Wisr Ltd	0.046	35%	$61,407,656
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.027	35%	$7,712,159
ASH	Ashley Services Grp	0.27	35%	$33,114,458
ANR	Anatara Ls Ltd	0.039	34%	$6,715,749
SRL	Sunrise	0.515	34%	$40,151,237
AGR	Aguia Res Ltd	0.02	33%	$11,589,724
HLX	Helix Resources	0.004	33%	$8,131,010
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.002	33%	$10,393,481
MRQ	MRG Metals Limited	0.002	33%	$5,050,237
RIE	Riedel Resources Ltd	0.004	33%	$7,783,425
SRY	Story-I Limited	0.004	33%	$1,505,619
BDT	Birddog	0.073	33%	$13,319,835
RHT	Resonance Health	0.073	33%	$31,282,505
VUL	Vulcan Energy	3.46	32%	$600,534,798
TSI	Top Shelf	0.23	31%	$45,743,689
HXG	Hexagon Energy	0.017	31%	$8,206,654
KNI	Kuniko	0.28	30%	$22,043,288
DMG	Dragon Mountain Gold	0.009	29%	$3,552,045
PVL	Powerhouse Ven Ltd	0.045	29%	$5,433,443
COE	Cooper Energy Ltd	0.1925	28%	$514,807,455
BMR	Ballymore Resources	0.125	28%	$22,922,976
ARL	Ardea Resources Ltd	0.695	28%	$130,031,164
BUS	Bubalus Resources	0.14	27%	$4,826,051

On Monday, US based PARTech said it would buy fellow restaurant tech company TASK Group (ASX:TSK), with TSK shareholders able to choose between cash and PAR shares.

The cash deal is worth 81c per TSK share – a 107% premium to the 30-day average price.

Narryer Metals (ASX:NYM) stonked ~80% after announcing plans to buy 70% of two lithium projects, Big Hill and Fran, in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

Big Hill shares a boundary with $200m capped Li-FT Power (TSXV:LIFT) which is drilling into thick, high grade lithium across multiple pegmatites you can see from space.

Meanwhile, aspiring WA lithium major Delta (ASX:DLI) will pay up to ~$13m over the next several years to earn into neighbouring ground owned by minnow Reach Resources (ASX:RR1).

“To receive $3.2M cash up front, and a further $10M cash/script if a successful JORC mineral resource delineation of equal to or greater than 7.5Mt at 0.8% Li2O (at a 0.5% cut off grade) is achieved, is a great result during these difficult market conditions,” RR1 CEO Jeremy Bower says.

LAST WEEK’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

The worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	% Week	Market Cap
CPM	Cooper Metals	0.13	-59%	$10,969,791
OSX	Osteopore Limited	0.05364	-54%	$554,031
AXP	AXP Energy Ltd	0.001	-50%	$11,649,361
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.014	-46%	$2,319,888
ACS	Accent Resources NL	0.006	-40%	$2,838,764
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.015	-40%	$11,949,535
ME1	Melodiol Global Health	0.0045	-36%	$1,964,980
LKE	Lake Resources	0.074	-36%	$119,621,923
ADS	Adslot Ltd	0.002	-33%	$6,448,991
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.004	-33%	$4,980,876
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	-33%	$3,323,987
ICU	Investor Centre Ltd	0.014	-33%	$4,244,773
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.002	-33%	$3,268,809
TKL	Traka Resources	0.001	-33%	$3,501,317
WHK	Whitehawk Limited	0.023	-30%	$10,160,471
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.007	-30%	$19,660,775
IR1	Irismetals	0.45	-30%	$63,472,141
MOM	Moab Minerals Ltd	0.005	-29%	$4,983,744
TG1	Techgen Metals Ltd	0.029	-28%	$4,068,242
OPL	Opyl Limited	0.022	-27%	$4,735,610
PKD	Parkd Ltd	0.022	-27%	$2,288,305
ABE	Australian Bond Exchange	0.028	-26%	$3,380,043
CKA	Cokal Ltd	0.073	-26%	$79,842,225
1AG	Alterra Limited	0.003	-25%	$2,612,072
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.0015	-25%	$2,212,101
CYQ	Cycliq Group Ltd	0.003	-25%	$1,072,550
EXL	Elixinol Wellness	0.006	-25%	$3,797,230
HCD	Hydrocarbon Dynamic	0.003	-25%	$2,425,747
NES	Nelson Resources.	0.003	-25%	$1,840,783
TMG	Trigg Minerals Ltd	0.006	-25%	$2,511,296
VPR	Volt Power Group	0.0015	-25%	$16,074,312
WFL	Wellfully Limited	0.003	-25%	$1,478,832
BEX	Bikeexchange Ltd	0.425	-24%	$7,921,279
SLM	Solismineralsltd	0.095	-24%	$8,198,111
BRX	Belararox	0.255	-24%	$19,154,885
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.005	-23%	$10,224,272
ICE	Icetana Limited	0.027	-23%	$7,144,968
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.017	-23%	$4,471,720
MIO	Macarthur Minerals	0.097	-22%	$16,126,588
APL	Associate Global	0.07	-22%	$3,954,470
NRZ	Neurizer Ltd	0.0035	-22%	$4,504,232
TG6	TG Metals	0.18	-22%	$10,276,372
PBL	Parabellum Resources	0.062	-22%	$3,862,600
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.0055	-21%	$37,918,825
ABB	Aussie Broadband	3.55	-21%	$1,047,905,816
QUE	Queste Communication	0.052	-21%	$1,407,761
SYR	Syrah Resources	0.55	-21%	$466,041,723
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.002	-20%	$7,356,542
GCM	Green Critical Min	0.004	-20%	$4,546,340
HTM	High-Tech Metals Ltd	0.12	-20%	$2,970,179

The week’s biggest fail goes to Singaporean medtech Osteopore (ASX:OSX), which is raising $3m at a ludicrous 94.42% discount to last closing price.

How does that even happen? A poorly timed 15:1 consolidation, amongst other things.

“Despite the recent share consolidation exercise for reasons which were valid at that time, since then there has been further review of the company’s position and ability to raise additional funds, and in light of this the Board considers the raising is nonetheless required and urgent,” exec chairman Mark Leong says.

Meanwhile, the collapse of once great lithium developer Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) continues.

Worth ~$2.7bn at $2.11/sh in April 2022, the struggling stock has announced a $20m raise at just 7c per share to keep the lights on.

The issue price represents a massive 39.1% discount to the last closing price of A$0.115 on 8 March 2024 and a 42.3% discount to the 5-day VWAP of A$0.121.