Top 10 at 11: ASX recovers from early dip as small caps struggle to secure funding

Morning, and welcome to Stockhead’s Top 10 (at 11… ish), highlighting the movers and shakers on the ASX in early-doors trading.

With the market opening at 10am sharp eastern time, the data is taken at 10.15am in the east, once trading kicks off in earnest.

In brief, this is what the market has been up to this morning.

Wobbly start to trade

After a record-breaking performance last week the ASX 200 is looking a tad unsteady this morning, dipping in the first hour of trade before recovering with an 8-point lift.

Up just 0.09% with an even split of 6 sectors rising and 5 sliding, it’s tough to predict which way the market will go this Monday morning.

Both US and European share markets had soft performances on Friday afternoon despite lifting over the last five trading days, providing little momentum to carry into this week.

Oil fell 1.7% to US$65.60 a barrel of Brent crude as markets await the result of talks between US President Trump and Russian President Putin in Alaska.

Gold slid just 0.1% to US$3382 an ounce with spot gold trading at US$3341.6 an ounce. Iron ore slid 0.2% to US$101.59 a tonne but gained 0.4% over the week.

The announcement boards are once again fairly bare for our small cap leaders, but more than one ASX company is struggling to lock in funding this morning and share prices are suffering for it.

SMALL CAP WINNERS

In the news…

Beacon Minerals (ASX:BCN) has hit bonanza grade gold in drilling at the Iguana deposit, part of the Lady Ida project in WA. The stand out result among some solid gold hits was a 10-metre intersection grading at 69.9 g/t gold from 40m of depth.

Within that gold hit, BCN encountered a metre-wide mineralised section grading at 593 g/t gold, alongside more bonanza intersections of 42.1 g/t and 50.2 g/t for a total of 17 results above 20 g/t gold.

Management says the assays are a “fantastic” result that provides greater confidence as the company prepares for first production early next year.

SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

In the news…

Highfield Resources (ASX:HFR) has had a set back in the funding negotiations to develop its flagship Muga potash project in Spain, after Qinghai Salt Lake Industry withdrew from a proposed strategic equity subscription.

Qinghai Salt Lake, a subsidiary of China Minmetals Corporation and Yankuang Energy Group, was set to invest US$300m in HFR under a non-binding letter of intent. Qinghai has since informed Highfield they will not be proceeding with the transaction.

Universal Biosensors (ASX:UBI) has agreed to extend the due diligence period for a potential loan facility being negotiated with Viburnum Funds by one week to Friday, August 22.

UBI says Viburnum has made no binding commitment to furnish the loan facility at this point, and has not met the conditions of the funding structure. The company says it will update the market with a revised timetable when possible.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.