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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to August 14, 2024 – an important date regarding breaking free from… things. Of realising what can be [point over here] unburdened, by what has been [point over there].

It was on this day in 1960, for instance, that the Republic of Congo gained independence from France.

It was also on this day, in 1971, that Bahrain proclaimed independence from the Poms.

And it was on this day, eight years later in 1979, that Martin Sheen was shown to have momentarily broken free from his sanity when Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece Apocalypse Now was released in cinemas after a highly troubled year-long shoot that was only supposed to last 14 weeks.

Near the beginning of the film, Sheen’s character, Captain Benjamin Willard, is “having a moment” in a South Vietnam hotel room, tripping about the walls closing in, dancing around like Elaine from Seinfeld, punching a mirror, rubbing blood all over his face and crying like a baby. I guess 11 solid hours of listening to The Doors will eventually do that to a man.

The most remarkable thing about this, however, was that (legend has it) Sheen was in the depths of alcoholism during filming and was three sheets to the wind during the hotel flip-out scene… and was actually having a real-life breakdown. Apparently Coppola wanted to stop filming, but Sheen “inshisted” he keep rolling. So he did.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to lose your mind, or pretend to enjoy the smell of napalm in the morning, in order to get your hands on good pre-market facts today.

That’s because – as always – we’ve worked hard to gather together lots of fiddly little things below, so you don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,467.50/oz (-0.16%)

Silver: US$27.64/oz (-1.11%)

Nickel (3mth): US$16,355/t (+1.27%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,918/t (-1.20%)

Zinc: US$2,713/t (+0.62%)

Oil (WTI): US$79.87/bbl (-0.24%)

Oil (Brent): US$81.79/bbl (-0.61%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$107.15/t (+6.44%)

AUD/USD: 0.659 (+0.23%)

Bitcoin: US$59,026 (-1.1%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

ASX explorers making Indo-digging moves, that’s what. An excellent, meaty story here from Stockhead’s Jess Cummins…

Indonesia is looking to tap its rich source of natural resources to boost manufacturing and these #ASX explorers are poised to capitalise. Jessica Cummins reports. https://t.co/wQQoetniip

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) August 12, 2024

MONDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here were yesterday’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.002	100%	101,356	$4,276,846
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.002	100%	248,688	$2,600,780
CDE	Codeifai Limited	0.002	50%	37,250	$2,641,295
ME1	Melodiol Glb Health	0.002	50%	245,034	$789,420
ASQ	Australian Silica	0.030	36%	35,000	$6,200,928
AUH	Austchina Holdings	0.004	33%	1,027,000	$6,301,151
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	33%	581,895	$2,492,990
MKL	Mighty Kingdom Ltd	0.004	33%	8,000,000	$9,647,829
SHO	Sportshero Ltd	0.004	33%	290,000	$1,853,499
VAR	Variscan Mines Ltd	0.008	33%	1,680,699	$2,568,002
PLC	Premier1 Lithium Ltd	0.013	30%	4,703,627	$1,745,741
SVG	Savannah Goldfields	0.031	29%	2	$6,746,038
BPH	BPH Energy Ltd	0.024	26%	7,955,751	$21,803,415
AGC	AGC Ltd	0.275	25%	1,294,988	$56,451,389
CCZ	Castillo Copper Ltd	0.005	25%	538,883	$5,198,021
CTO	Citigold Corp Ltd	0.005	25%	108,911	$12,000,000
RLG	Roolife Group Ltd	0.005	25%	1,000,000	$3,176,585
RHY	Rhythm Biosciences	0.066	25%	557,025	$13,175,628
LTP	Ltr Pharma Limited	1.200	24%	4,167,163	$81,821,433
TPW	Temple & Webster Ltd	11.710	23%	1,300,324	$1,127,675,669
AS1	Asara Resources Ltd	0.011	22%	1,504,100	$7,939,578
GC1	Glennon SML Co Ltd	0.480	22%	4,391	$18,841,641
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.034	21%	27,533	$3,154,707

Packaging giant Orora (ASX:ORA) saw its share price lift 18% in morning trade after announcing it had rejected a $2.55/share takeover offer by US private equity group Lone Star, describing it as “opportunistic” and “conditional”.

“The board, together with its advisers, carefully considered the indicative proposal and determined that it is not in the best interests of its shareholders to further engage with Lone Star on the basis of the indicative proposal, which materially undervalues Orora,” ORA says in an ASX announcement.

Variscan Mines (ASX:VAR) is up 17% after announcing it has appointed Square Trading as its exclusive marketing manager for the worldwide sale of zinc concentrates from its Novales-Udias and Guajaraz Projects in Spain.

VAR says Square Trading will also assist the company to secure third-party financing to construct and operate the mines it is developing. Square Trading is a shareholder in Zinc GroupCo, which is VAR’s largest shareholder.

LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP) is up 25% today after announcing it has entered a co-development agreement with Aptar Pharma for Spontan, its nasal spray treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). LTP says the deal will combine LTP’s pharmaceutical development capabilities with Aptar Pharma’s expertise in nasal spray technology, supporting a streamlined regulatory pathway and market access for Spontan.

Rock chip sampling of Leeuwin Metals’ (ASX:LM1) West Pilbara iron ore project has has shown values of >50-55% iron along a 1.7km strike.

Satellite imagery and mapping turned up the prospectivity for lucrative channel iron deposits (CID), with multiple target areas present within the project area.

CID’s are a major source of cheap iron ore that is close to the surface and can be calcined into 63%+ iron, mined nearby at Rio Tinto’s (ASX:RIO) 326Mt at 56.3% iron Mesa A and CZR Resources’ (ASX:CZR) 33.4Mt at 55% iron Robe Valley in the Pilbara’s Robe River region. Further ground exploration is about to commence at West Pilbara to try and prove up the CID targets, which could turn the project into another Robe River iron ore mining operation.

Read yesterday’s Closing Bell for more.