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

This was not what I paid for. Pic: Getty Images

Good morning, and welcome to Rise and Shine.

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Or should that be Trump?

More indecisive than a Conclave picking a new Pope, the Leader of the Free World issued a major about face on China, as did an exasperated Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

In something of a reverse ferret, the US President will now be “very nice” to China and chop tariff rates described by Bessent as “unsustainable”. It came as the IMF issued some apocalyptic cuts to its growth forecasts for 2025, the hardest hit being the Seppos, whose growth projection were clipped from 2.7% to 1.8%.

Good news for markets, not so good for gold, which has been getting drunker than David Boon on a long-haul flight to England on a chaotic cocktail of war, economic uncertainty and geopolitical delirium. Falling from all time highs yesterday to the tune of close to US$200/oz, the bullion blitz saw the ASX All Ords gold sub-index tumble around 9%.

Goldies remains winners YTD, but perhaps a note of caution that the laws of gravity still apply.

By the way, it was on this day, April 24 in 1503, that the great artist Michelangelo undertook to carve 12 statues of the apostles towering over the parishioners at the cathedral of Florence, only to ditch the gig because Pope Julius II kept calling him away to Rome for joyrides in the Popemobile.

Just one unfinished piece was attempted, the St Matthew, before his commitments as part of crime fighting force the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became too time consuming.

Luckily for you, you won’t need to dodge the calls of an angry customer to get your hands on all the market info you need today, because we’ve got everything you need down below.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$3318.36/oz (-2.62%)

Silver: US$32.91/oz (-0.13%)

Iron Ore: US$100.35/t (+1.76%)

Nickel (3mth): US$15,622/t (0.00%)

Copper (3mth): US$9188.50/t (0.00%)

Zinc: US$2577/t (0.00%)

Lithium carbonate (Fastmarkets CIF China, Japan, Korea): $9000/t (-1.09%)

Oil (WTI): US$64.83/bbl (+1.82%)

Oil (Brent): US$68.60/bbl (+1.72%)

AUD/USD: 0.6416 (+0.66%)

Bitcoin: US$94,244.87 (+0.89%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Also in the news …

Victory Metals (ASX:VTM) surged higher after announced up to US$194m in potential funding support for its heavy-endowed North Stanmore rare earths deposit from the US export credit agency EXIM.
A ripper of a result sent investors piling into biotech Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX). Read Tim Boreham’s rundown in yesterday’s Health Check.
Also in the world of biotechs, R&D rebates could replace cap raises as cash gets tight, with a lending industry emerging to keep the lights on at market minnows.
And sleep stocks are set to come under close attention from Big Pharma players overseas after Sandoz moved to partner with ASX junior Avecho. Eddy Sunarto has the deets.
Overnight, PM Anthony Albanese announced plans to develop a $1.2bn critical minerals strategic reserve if Labor wins the May 3 Federal Election, which could underwrite new mining developments via offtake agreements and be used as a trade carrot with the US, as well as close partners like Japan and South Korea.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
M2R	Miramar	0.004	100%	14,951,172	$1,993,647
RDS	Redstone Resources	0.006	100%	8,829,890	$2,776,135
CR9	Corellares	0.003	50%	190,016	$1,269,815
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	50%	1,500,000	$3,253,779
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.003	50%	300,000	$4,114,895
RAN	Range International	0.003	50%	333,334	$1,878,581
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.011	38%	336,798	$4,565,454
ACS	Accent Resources NL	0.008	33%	60,000	$2,838,764
GCM	Green Critical Min	0.012	33%	53,609,519	$17,655,105
CUS	Coppersearchlimited	0.022	29%	189,295	$2,017,456
PDN	Paladin Energy Ltd	5.000	26%	8,902,708	$1,587,861,950
C7A	Clara Resources	0.005	25%	57,500	$2,046,417
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.005	25%	100,000	$1,358,150
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.003	25%	213,786	$2,150,428
AKM	Aspire Mining Ltd	0.285	24%	249,175	$116,756,507
RMY	RMA Global	0.032	23%	142,151	$17,272,623
TAR	Taruga Minerals	0.011	22%	1,330,000	$6,354,241
AQC	Auspaccoal Ltd	0.075	21%	604,720	$43,428,991
ASP	Aspermont Limited	0.006	20%	250,000	$12,350,058
BMG	BMG Resources Ltd	0.012	20%	1,298,293	$8,383,972
IPT	Impact Minerals	0.006	20%	9,789,400	$18,513,316
ABE	Ausbondexchange	0.039	18%	218,181	$3,718,048
NUZ	Neurizon Therapeutic	0.130	18%	364,561	$54,153,634
KNI	Kunikolimited	0.165	18%	232,325	$12,169,398

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Redstone Resources (ASX:RDS) has kicked off diamond drilling at its Tollu copper deposit in WA’s West Musgrave. It’s punching down a 1,200m hole under the high-grade Tollu copper zone, hoping to hit a Voisey’s Bay-style copper-nickel jackpot hiding beneath. Previous drilling has already pulled up some promising copper hits, one even hit 18% copper over a metre.

Papyrus Australia (ASX:PPY) reported a solid quarter, kicking big goals both in Vietnam and back home. It teamed up with local partner Thung Dung to push ahead with its banana waste-to-product tech, and a recent site visit confirmed the joint venture’s in good nick. Back in Australia, it’s powering through setup of its R&D hub in Adelaide, with early product tests looking promising. It’s also raised $200k to keep the commercialisation engine ticking over.

Green Critical Minerals (ASX:GCM) has inked a collaboration agreement with leading data centre operator GreenSquareDC to develop next-gen thermal management products using its very high density graphite technology. The deal confirms strong commercial interest in GCM’s ultra-dense graphite tech, known for outperforming traditional materials like aluminium and copper in heat diffusion.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s worst performing small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
CYQ	Cycliq Group Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,509,489	$1,381,550
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.004	-33%	1,383,290	$3,904,618
SRN	Surefire Rescs NL	0.003	-25%	673,333	$9,665,231
CTT	Cettire	0.500	-24%	11,376,751	$249,711,034
NGX	Ngxlimited	0.100	-20%	73,985	$11,326,480
CTN	Catalina Resources	0.002	-20%	776,798	$4,159,399
FAU	First Au Ltd	0.002	-20%	58,227	$5,179,983
LML	Lincoln Minerals	0.004	-20%	2,665	$10,512,849
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.002	-20%	5,000,000	$8,419,651
VRC	Volt Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	177,665	$23,423,890
REE	Rarex Limited	0.031	-18%	19,060,840	$30,432,142
AGD	Austral Gold	0.058	-17%	278,954	$42,861,795
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.005	-17%	2,500	$6,881,340
KPO	Kalina Power Limited	0.005	-17%	9,478,713	$17,365,318
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.005	-17%	1,871,001	$32,533,363
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.005	-17%	72,000	$6,495,472
VHM	Vhmlimited	0.270	-16%	228,500	$69,487,985
8CO	8Common Limited	0.017	-15%	256,695	$4,481,898
QEM	QEM Limited	0.047	-15%	165,457	$10,495,853
AZL	Arizona Lithium Ltd	0.006	-14%	12,345,093	$31,932,702
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.006	-14%	6,676,524	$4,984,714
HHR	Hartshead Resources	0.006	-14%	4,468,779	$19,660,775
NWM	Norwest Minerals	0.012	-14%	2,637,999	$6,791,673
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	18,072	$11,196,728

Online fashion retailer Cettire (ASX:CTT) slumped by 15% after reporting a bit of a mixed bag this quarter. It pulled in $260 million in sales, up just 1% on pcp, but it took a $4.7 million EBITDA hit, thanks in part to currency losses and heavy discounting. The company said demand’s been patchy across the luxury market, especially in the US, but it still grew its active customer base to around 696,000.