On Stockhead today, analysts underestimated high purity alumina demand, one expert gives his tips on the hottest junior copper targets, and Garimpeiro’ columnist Barry FitzGerald pits Allegiance Coal (ASX:AHQ) against Australia’s richest woman’s new coal venture.

But first:

The week ahead

On the data front, Australia will get its monthly update on business and consumer confidence, starting with NAB’s business survey on Tuesday followed by Westpac’s consumer index on Wednesday.

Globally there’s plenty of central bank activity on the schedule, with US Fed chair Jerome Powell set to make his bi-annual testimony to US Congress on Wednesday and Thursday.

Also on Wednesday the Fed will release minutes from its June meeting, which markets will scope for any extra clues on what could prompt a rate cut. And the Bank of Canada will make its own policy announcement, with rates expected to stay on hold at 1.75 per cent.

Then on Thursday the ECB will release minutes from its own June meeting, and RBA deputy governor Guy Debelle will give a speech at the FX Week conference in New York.

Company news

The following companies are scheduled to come out of a trading halt or voluntary suspension over the next 48 hours:

Monday:

Star Combo Pharma (ASX:S66) – capital raising & acquisition
Carnarvon Petroleum (ASX:CVN) – well results
NTM Gold (ASX:NTM) – capital raising
Lindian Resources (ASX:LIN) – project update

Tuesday:

Calima Energy (ASX:CE1) – resource statement
Altura Mining (ASX:AJM) – offtake agreement
Intermin Resources (ASX:IRC) – divestment
Cycliq Group (ASX:CYQ) – funding discussions
Kingwest Resources (ASX:KWR) – project acquisition
Immutep (ASX:IMM) – capital raising
Memphasys (ASX:MEM) – capital raising
Cogstate (ASX:CGS) – capital raising

Markets

Gold: $US1,399.07 ($2,004.25) -0.56%

Silver: $US15.007 -1.8%

Oil (Brent): $US64.47 +1.85%

Oil (WTI): $US57.73 +0.68%

Coal: $US77.12 -0.40%

Iron ore 62pc fe: $US117.00 -4.1%

AUD/USD: $US0.6980 -0.56%

What got you talking last week

There were a number of key themes that had Stockhead readers talking, including the recent excitement around uranium and why now might be a good time to get back into small-cap mining stocks. In case you missed out, it’s all neatly summarised in the most recent edition of Kick Back.

These were the five most-discussed stocks on trading gossip forum HotCopper at close on Friday, July 5:

Last week’s winners

There was a diverse range of stocks leading the pack, with winners from sectors across pharmaceuticals, energy and tech.

NeuroScientific Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:NSB) led the way with a gain of 124 per cent, after announcing a successful test of its EmtinB nerve regeneration technology used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s.

The drug demonstrated the “largest ever improvement in neurite growth and increased number of active connections between nerve cells”. Trials are only at the pre-clinical stage, with in-human trials “to be initiated this quarter”.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 1-5:

Ticker Name Price last Friday Price this Friday % Return Market Cap
NSB NEUROSCIENTIFIC BIOPHARMACEUTICALS 0.145 0.350 124 $23,913,692.00
SIV SILVER CHEF 0.310 0.670 119 $26,702,182.00
MEB MEDIBIO 0.009 0.019 111 $4,727,228.50
GPP GREENPOWER ENERGY 0.001 0.002 100 $3,886,414.25
EER EAST ENERGY RESOURCES 0.002 0.004 100 $12,803,948.00
KYK KYCKR 0.033 0.060 97 $9,812,718.00
NXE NEW ENERGY MINERALS 0.014 0.025 86 $3,923,281.50
CY5 CYGNUS GOLD 0.025 0.045 72 $2,609,383.75
CAE CANNINDAH RESOURCES 0.009 0.015 67 $2,717,789.25
CIO CONNECTED IO 0.003 0.005 67 $9,065,425.00
CZL CONSOLIDATED ZINC 0.008 0.012 62 $15,303,418.00
TAS TASMAN RESOURCES 0.036 0.058 58 $30,085,008.00
VKA VIKING MINES 0.009 0.014 56 $4,392,050.00
MDI MIDDLE ISLAND RESOURCES 0.005 0.007 56 $7,327,965.00
HCT HOLISTA COLLTECH 0.042 0.063 50 $14,744,462.00
RAG RAGNAR METALS 0.004 0.060 50 $1,880,544.38
UTR ULTRACHARGE 0.002 0.003 50 $3,220,141.75
TMX TERRAIN MINERALS 0.002 0.003 50 $1,931,196.00
SYT SYNTONIC 0.002 0.003 50 $9,864,863.00
CLZ CLASSIC MINERALS 0.001 0.002 50 $4,508,580.00
OEX OILEX 0.002 0.003 50 $7,761,954.00
FRX FLEXIROAM 0.012 0.018 50 $4,357,502.00
UUV UUV AQUABOTIX 0.006 0.009 50 $2,924,438.25
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Last week’s losers

Aside from the usual round of minnow penny stocks that tick sharply lower in percentage terms, it was a bad week for satellite communications company SpeedCast International (ASX:SDA).

The stock slumped by 46 per cent following an earnings cut, which it blamed on a number of reasons including NBN delays and technical problems with a big contract.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 1-5:

Ticker Name Price Last Friday Price This Friday Return % Market Cap
CGS COGSTATE 0.194 0.155 -21 $18,475,410.00
FDM FREEDOM OIL AND GAS 0.028 0.023 -21 $24,771,518.00
MGU MAGNUM MINING AND EXPLORATION 0.082 0.065 -21 $17,893,044.00
SIH SIHAYO GOLD 0.014 0.011 -21 $25,496,110.00
OBM ORA BANDA MINING 0.16 0.13 -22 $60,714,996.00
BCB BOWEN COKING COAL 0.05 0.039 -22 $27,562,636.00
IVO INVIGOR GROUP 0.0045 0.004 -22 $10,001,031.00
MAG MAGMATIC RESOURCES 0.018 0.014 -22 $1,641,396.00
REZ RESOURCES & ENERGY 0.065 0.05 -23 $15,111,103.00
SGC SACGASCO 0.017 0.014 -24 $3,448,652.25
TPC TPC CONSOLIDATED 0.4 0.3 -25 $3,370,684.00
OKU OKLO RESOURCES 0.15 0.115 -25 $39,921,180.00
AIS AERIS RESOURCES 0.066 0.05 -27 $21,874,158.00
FTC FINTECH CHAIN 0.14 0.11 -28 $68,330,808.00
ADA ADACEL TECHNOLOGIES 0.595 0.43 -28 $32,787,218.00
OAR OAKDALE RESOURCES 0.014 0.01 -29 $2,083,553.63
SUR SUN RESOURCES 0.0015 0.001 -33 $881,057.56
TSC TWENTY SEVEN CO 0.003 0.002 -33 $1,962,122.63
LRS LATIN RESOURCES 0.0015 0.001 -33 $3,892,466.50
IAM INTIGER GROUP 0.0015 0.001 -33 $1,677,895.88
QGL QUANTUM GRAPHITE 0.003 0.002 -33 $15,321,162.00
CEL CHALLENGER EXPLORATION 0.055 0.032 -42 $14,897,924.00
SDA SPEEDCAST INTERNATIONAL 3.48 1.8 -46 $453,110,976.00
AJC ACACIA COAL 0.002 0.001 -50 $4,067,651.75
MLS METALS AUSTRALIA 0.002 0.002 -50 $2,927,197.75
PCL PANCONTINENTAL OIL & GAS 0.002 0.001 -50 $5,406,715.50
MCX MARINER CORP 0.047 0.02 -57 $274,761.63
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