Local markets have closed out the week with two straight days of relatively sanguine trade, as investors look for a catalyst to prompt the next leg higher (or lower).

For now, global markets largely appear to have digested recent scares stemming from high energy prices and stubbornly high inflation prints.

Those concerns were offset by a round of bumper profits for high-profile US companies as investors responded positively to Q1 earnings season on Wall Street.

On the ASX, Q1 reporting season highlights included a strong set of results from a nanocap honey exporter, and a number of tech/healthcare plays looking to convert their post-COVID boost into sustainable long-term growth.

Key data next week will be highlighted by Australia’s quarterly inflation print on Wednesday.

CBA forecasts the trimmed mean measure of core inflation will rise by 0.5%, pushing the annual rate up to 1.8%.
 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 15 – October 22 [intraday]:

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Phosphate producer Centrex Metals (ASX:CXM) was the weekly leader, surging on Thursday after announcing its subsidiary, Agriflex, had signed a multi-year offtake agreement with Samsung C&T, one of the world largest fertiliser traders.

Shares in CXM eased back slightly on Friday after the company issued a clarification announcement on details of the deal, which will require final approval from both the board of Agriflex and Samsung C&T.

Three other companies posted triple-digit percentage gains during the week on market-moving announcements — all in resources and energy.

Recent ASX debutante Lode Resources (ASX:LDR) was one of them, after announcing it had struck “significant sulphides” of zinc, lead and copper in maiden drilling at the ‘Webbs Consol’ silver project in NSW.

Consolidated Zinc (ASX:CZL) also ripped higher on an offtake agreement of its own. The Mexico-based company secured a deal to sell a year’s worth of zinc concentrates to MSE-listed Industrias Penoles — one of the world’s leading refiners of zinc and the largest global refiner of silver.

And shares in US-based oil & gas explorer AXP Energy (ASX:AXP) climbed strongly all week, after the company advised on Friday night that it’s received approval from the WA Supreme Court to recommence trading on the ASX.

It followed an “inadvertent administrative oversight” from the company, which meant it didn’t lodge a “compliant cleansing notice or prospectus pursuant to sections 708A(6) and 708A(11) of the Corporations Act, for various share issues”.

Since 2013.

During the time AXP was prevented from trading, oil prices rose to multi-year highs with Brent crude now increasingly tipped to reach US$100/barrel.
 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 15 – October 22 [intraday]:

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