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

On Stockhead today, can Sayona become a mini-PLS, Sydney house prices could fall 30%, and two good reasons why cheap stocks do exist.

But first, the day ahead.

Local shares are set to open higher today. At 8am AEST, the ASX 200 September futures contract is pointing up by 0.75%.

ANZ/Roy Morgan jointly issue the weekly consumer confidence survey. Minutes of the Sept 6 RBA meeting are also issued at 11:30am AEST.

At the meeting, the Board decided to lift the cash rate for an unprecedented 5^th straight month, hiking rates by 50 basis points to a 7-and-a-half-year high of 2.35%.

“Since the meeting, RBA Governor Philip Lowe has delivered a speech titled ‘Inflation and the Monetary Policy Framework’,” CommSec says.

“In the speech Governor Lowe signalled that the recent run of jumbo rate hikes could be nearing an end.”

Fingers crossed.

TRADING HALTS

The following companies are in trading halts and are expected out in the next few days:

Moho Resources (ASX:MOH) – A rare double-banger, here from Moho: a capital raise and results incoming from its REE play. Verrry interesting.

Grand Gulf Energy (ASX:GGE) – Test results are due back from Jesse 1A. Betcha $10 GGE’s the father.

Carbonxt Group (ASX:CG1) – Capital raise.

IVE Group (ASX:IGL) – Capital raise.

Respiri (ASX:RSH) – Equity raise, cause sometimes you’ve just gotta be different.

Gold Mountain (ASX:GMN) – Capital raise.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: $US1,675.28 (+0.02%)

Silver: $US19.51 (-0.50%)

Nickel (3mth): $US24,670/t (+1.74%)

Copper (3mth): $US7,772/t (+0.13%)

Lithium Carbonate, China (Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, Sept 14): $US71,500/t (+98.6% year-to-date)

Lithium Hydroxide, China (Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, Sept 14): $US70,550/t (+135.6% year-to-date)

Oil (WTI): $US85.47 (+0.42%)

Oil (Brent): $US91.87 (+0.57%)

Iron 62pc Fe: $US98.99 (-0.27%)

AUD/USD: 0.6727 (0.00%)

Bitcoin: $US19,631 (+0.96%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING YESTERDAY?

Lithium is unstoppable.

– Prices for lithium carbonate hit around US$71,315 on Friday
– @GoldMountainASX $GMN picks up four Brazilian lithium projects
– @lake_resources $LKE says don’t worry the direct lithium extraction (DLE) tech will be successful https://t.co/Y8dPcQQLvs

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) September 19, 2022

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Also, be sure to check in preopen each day for ‘Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch’, and 10.30am for our daily ‘10 at 10’ column — a live summary of winners & losers at the opening bell.

YESTERDAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP WINNERS

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Explorer Demetallica (ASX:DRM) received a takeover offer from copper miner AIC Mines (ASX:A1M), which values DRM at ~$36m or 33.7c per share.

That’s a 68% premium to the last closing price.

MicroX (ASX:MX1) – which develops carbon nanotube-based X-ray tech – has inked a $15m deal with Varex Imaging Corporation, the largest independent manufacturer of X-ray components globally with annual sales over US$800m in 2021.

Kula Gold (ASX:KGD) will raise $1.8m to expedite WA lithium exploration and “assess new opportunities in the lithium sector”.

And Petratherm (ASX:PTR) was off to the races after catching the laser-guided attention of Barry Fitzgerald over the weekend.

YESTERDAY’S BIGGEST SMALL CAP LOSERS

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