Good morning and happy Monday. On Stockhead today, why is Beijing so empty right now, why Tolga Kumova got into Meteoric, and how to raise money for… raising money.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of an important week on the ASX and global markets.

The week ahead in data

It’s the start of a new month, which usually means a pick-up in activity on the economic data front.

This week is no exception, with the added highlight of Tuesday night’s much-anticipated federal budget. While the broader economy has lost steam recently, stable commodity prices and low unemployment have left the budget in good shape.

As a result, markets are watching to see what kind of fiscal stimulus the Morrison government delivers ahead of the federal election in May.

There’s also monthly house price data from CoreLogic this morning, and a spate of PMIs scheduled throughout the week for manufacturing, services and construction.

And before the budget on Tuesday night, the RBA will make its monthly interest rates announcement on Tuesday afternoon (2:30pm AEST). The central bank is starting to lean dovish, but markets still expect rates to stay on hold at 1.5 per cent in April.

Globally, key data will be led by all-important US employment figures, scheduled for release after Asian markets close on Friday night.

Company news

There are eight companies currently in a trading halt that are set to provide updates over the next couple of days.

Stemify (ASX: SF1), Ausmex Mining Group (ASX; AMG) and Navarre Minerals (ASX: NML) all have capital raising announcements scheduled today, while Sunbridge Group (ASX: SBB) is expected to provide an explanation regarding the impact of a prior-year accounting adjustment.

VRX Silica (ASX: VRX) will make a capital raising announcement on Tuesday, while Bubs Australia (ASX: BUB) while provide an update on a capital raising in connection with a possible acquisition.

Also on Tuesday, Konekt (ASX: KKT) will recommence trading after advising on the details of a customer contract, along with Core Lithium (ASX: CXO), which requested a halt pending the details of a mining offtake agreement.

Commodities

Gold: $USD1,291.90 ($1,814.83) +0.14%

Silver: $USD15.13 +0.83%

Oil (Brent): $USD68.39 +0.84%

Oil (WTI): $USD60.14 +1.42%

Iron ore 62% fe: $USD85.70 +0.07%

AUD/USD: $USD0.7119 (+0.32%)

What got you talking last week

Adtech company Adveritas (ASX: AV1) fostered some discussion on the Stockhead Facebook chat forum, as it climbed around 30 per cent for the week following the announcement on Monday of a new integrated marketing platform.

Member Jim Skazas wrote on Wednesday: AV1 is running today. Just breaking out. Fundamentals are there. Are likely to be exceptionally good in the eyes of US venture capitalists who do business with them. Any raising likely to come from US VC money imo.

These were the five most-discussed stocks on trading gossip forum HotCopper at close on Friday:

Last week’s winners

Coal explorer Resource Generation (ASX:RES) was up nearly 70 per cent over the week to end at 12.5c.

The company got a price query from the ASX earlier in the week, but didn’t have a key reason for the sudden jump in its share price and volume of shares traded.

RES said it may have been due to a delayed market response from an update earlier this month, when the company advised that Hong-Kong based Noble House had agreed to lend the company another $2.5m.

And there were some big jumps among a couple of penny stocks, with PR firm R3D Global (ASX:R3D) and air conditioning supplier Multistack International (ASX:MSI) both notching a 200 per cent gain without posting any key updates to the market.

If you’re after some more price-action details ahead of this morning’s market open, Stockhead’s weekly wrap has everything you need to know.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for the week ended March 29:

ASX code Company Market Cap Price last Friday Price this Friday % change
R3D R3D GLOBAL LTD $617,206 0.005 0.015 200
MSI MULTISTACK INTERNATIONAL LTD $1,796,863 0.005 0.015 200
RES RESOURCE GENERATION LTD $69,765,640 0.074 0.125 69
ARX ARC EXPLORATION LTD $5,050,147 0.125 0.200 60
FSG FIELD SOLUTIONS HOLDINGS LTD $10,750,360 0.016 0.025 56
LI3 LITHIUM CONSOLIDATED LTD $6,811,659 0.046 0.071 54
WEL WINCHESTER ENERGY LTD $8,188,698 0.019 0.028 47
RFG RETAIL FOOD GROUP LTD $43,858,924 0.165 0.250 52
THD THRED LTD $5,368,173 0.002 0.003 50
SHK STONE RESOURCES AUSTRALIA LT $2,434,939 0.002 0.003 50
DDD 3D RESOURCES LTD $3,321,663 0.002 0.003 50
DTR DATELINE RESOURCES LTD $22,857,094 0.002 0.003 50
NET NETLINKZ LTD $59,351,696 0.035 0.052 49
KOR KORAB RESOURCES LTD $12,045,383 0.027 0.039 44
WRM WHITE ROCK MINERALS LTD $11,455,205 0.005 0.008 45
GID GI DYNAMICS INC-CDI $18,313,668 0.019 0.027 42
8CO 8COMMON LTD $7,287,482 0.043 0.061 42
WCN WHITE CLIFF MINERALS LTD $2,822,081 0.005 0.007 40
MOB MOBILICOM LTD/AUSTRALIA $21,762,672 0.084 0.115 37
CHZ CHESSER RESOURCES LTD $11,669,069 0.038 0.052 37
AJX ALEXIUM INTERNATIONAL GROUP $55,270,976 0.115 0.155 35
LBT LBT INNOVATIONS LTD $16,476,016 0.061 0.082 34
SPX SPECTRUM METALS LTD $26,279,546 0.021 0.028 33
TMX TERRAIN MINERALS LTD $2,574,928 0.003 0.004 33
GLV GLOBAL VANADIUM LTD $11,317,920 0.003 0.004 33
GGX GAS2GRID LTD $4,625,637 0.003 0.004 33
OSP OSPREY MEDICAL INC-CDI $56,133,660 0.105 0.140 33
REY REY RESOURCES LTD $27,610,084 0.097 0.130 34
PO3 PURIFLOH LTD $138,085,008 3.600 4.750 32
PKO PEAKO LTD $1,800,517 0.019 0.025 32
WEC WHITE ENERGY CO LTD $51,631,860 0.080 0.105 31
AFR AFRICAN ENERGY RESOURCES-CDI $10,653,713 0.013 0.017 31
UWL UNITI WIRELESS LTD $55,029,896 0.375 0.490 31
Wordpress Table Plugin

Last week’s losers

It was a rough week for Stemify (ASX:SF1), a US-based distributor of 3D printers. Its share price halved to 0.2 cents after the ASX raised doubts about its half-year accounts, before it announced a trading half in advance of a pending capital raise.

And Orinoco Gold (ASX:OGX) tumbled by 38 per cent to 0.25 cents amid another round of chaos at its Brazil-based gold project. The company is now trying to raise more cash from investors as it faces allegations of poor conduct and theft at its Cascavel gold mine.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for the week ended March 29:

Ticker Name Market cap Price last Friday Price this Friday % change
SF1 STEMIFY LTD $1,117,737.88 0.004 0.002 -50
MTB MOUNT BURGESS MINING NL $1,355,638.13 0.005 0.003 -40
OGX ORINOCO GOLD LTD $5,695,514.50 0.004 0.0025 -38
RGL RIVERSGOLD LTD $2,737,548.00 0.044 0.0289 -34
BAH BOJUN AGRICULTURE HOLDINGS $12,151,201.00 0.150 0.10 -33
GBP GLOBAL PETROLEUM LTD $4,053,058.50 0.0299 0.02 -33
UUV UUV AQUABOTIX LTD $3,249,376.00 0.0299 0.02 -33
ANL AMANI GOLD LTD $7,380,455.00 0.003 0.002 -33
DRE DREADNOUGHT RESOURCES LTD $1,311,629.88 0.003 0.002 -33
MLS METALS AUSTRALIA LTD $5,383,595.50 0.003 0.002 -33
VPR VOLT POWER GROUP LTD $8,244,533.50 0.0015 0.001 -33
TOM TOMIZONE LTD $2,126,003.50 0.006 0.004 -33
NWE NORWEST ENERGY NL $6,764,185.50 0.003 0.002 -33
CLZ CLASSIC MINERALS LTD $4,508,580.00 0.0015 0.001 -33
TZL TZ LTD $11,642,097.00 0.239 0.165 -31
PSA PETSEC ENERGY LTD $25,432,566.00 0.100 0.07 -30
FNT FRONTIER RESOURCES LTD $3,423,713.50 0.01 0.007 -30
NGY NUENERGY GAS LTD $20,733,376.00 0.0270 0.0189 -30
MTH MITHRIL RESOURCES LTD $2,534,335.25 0.007 0.005 -29
KEY KEY PETROLEUM LTD $9,296,773.00 0.007 0.005 -29
CTM CENTAURUS METALS LTD $16,229,893.00 0.007 0.005 -29
ARN ALDORO RESOURCES LTD $4,085,375.00 0.159 0.115 -28
CT1 CCP TECHNOLOGIES LTD $3,569,336.25 0.011 0.008 -27
BIR BIR FINANCIAL LTD $12,000,056.00 0.150 0.109 -27
SKN SKIN ELEMENTS LTD $4,762,975.50 0.0430 0.0320 -26
Wordpress Table Plugin