Australian stocks are drowning in a sea of red amidst lingering uncertainty sparked cash-strapped Chinese property giant Evergrande and concerns about rising inflation.

The ASX 200 is down 2.36% this week to 7,169.8 points, thanks to a big dip today as investors fled for safe harbours after Evergrande missed a second deadline to pay over US$180m of interest to foreign investors.

Gold companies saw marked gains with shares in Evolution Mining climbing 2.44% this morning to $3.58, while Silver Lake rose nearly 4% to $1.39.

Investors in energy stocks are also likely to be feeling a little relieved this week as the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index is still up 3.99%.despite some sharp falls today.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for September 24 – October 1 [intraday]:

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Code Company Price ReturnWRoll% MktCap$
BAS Bass Oil Ltd 0.0025 150 $ 10,031,703.65
RDT Red Dirt Metals Ltd 0.63 117 $ 78,853,920.00
VIA Viagold Rare Earth 0.48 88 $ 39,989,953.92
MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.007 75 $ 35,105,865.00
ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.0035 75 $ 14,205,196.75
TUA Tuas Limited 1.56 59 $ 672,668,080.45
PDI Predictive Disc Ltd 0.245 53 $ 324,362,484.72
PBX Pacific Bauxite Ltd 0.003 50 $ 1,189,842.10
BTR Brightstar Resources 0.038 46 $ 14,951,525.98
IPB IPB Petroleum Ltd 0.029 45 $ 10,105,646.04
MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.026 44 $ 66,832,659.65
PAL Palla Pharma Ltd 0.39 44 $ 56,669,607.05
RRR Revolverresources 0.335 43 $ 28,245,995.94
QXR Qx Resources Limited 0.017 42 $ 11,994,521.78
DXN DXN Limited 0.011 38 $ 12,879,815.02
KCN Kingsgate Consolid. 1.59 35 $ 349,686,315.74
PPY Papyrus Australia 0.051 34 $ 21,813,243.97
GGX Gas2Grid Limited 0.004 33 $ 16,184,408.31
WC8 Wildcat Resources 0.033 32 $ 16,042,500.00
AXI Axiom Properties 0.105 31 $ 38,944,229.22
SMN Structural Monitor. 0.85 31 $ 96,834,009.08
MTC Metalstech Ltd 0.65 30 $ 108,114,293.45
COI Comet Ridge Limited 0.13 30 $ 116,104,650.08
ARU Arafura Resource Ltd 0.22 29 $ 348,738,149.70
JPR Jupiter Energy 0.055 28 $ 6,901,996.19
OMH OM Holdings Limited 0.95 28 $ 694,305,936.78
RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.028 27 $ 9,125,034.30
ATS Australis Oil & Gas 0.057 27 $ 62,996,109.75
CAE Cannindah Resources 0.145 26 $ 70,049,067.44
HNR Hannans Ltd 0.034 26 $ 80,239,224.53
QML Qmines Limited 0.39 26 $ 18,770,839.60
STK Strickland Metals 0.059 26 $ 62,136,441.23
MOB Mobilicom Ltd 0.05 25 $ 16,096,835.80
AFR African Energy Res 0.035 25 $ 23,348,161.42
ALT Analytica Limited 0.0025 25 $ 9,227,602.26
MEB Medibio Limited 0.01 25 $ 17,950,614.98
NTL New Talisman Gold 0.0025 25 $ 9,381,676.09
IEC Intra Energy Corp 0.01 25 $ 3,584,516.27
ARO Astro Resources NL 0.005 25 $ 15,056,772.05
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Bass Oil (ASX:BAS) +150%

Bass is moving to investigate the use of carbon capture, use and storage for its Cooper Basin oil and gas assets to minimise its carbon footprint.

This follows the federal government backed Santos’ and Oil Search’s $210m Moomba CCS project with a $15m grant.

It noted that most of the gas produced from the Cooper Basin required the removal of carbon dioxide, which can be reinjected to increase reservoir pressure and increase recoveries.

Opportunities to deploy solar and battery technology to replace its reliance on diesel/crude powered generators will also be investigated.

Red Dirt Metals (ASX:RDT) +117%

Shares in Red Dirt soared after the company announced that it had identified the potential for lithium whilst undertaking due diligence of the recently acquired Mt Ida project in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

It noted that its technical team had observed that multiple high-grade lithium intervals had been intersected within pegmatite bodies on the western contact of the main Mt Ida granite intrusive.

To date, 44 drill holes have been identified that have been logged with pegmatite occurrences or have been assayed incidentally for lithium as part of a multi-element analysis.

Tuas (ASX:TUA) +59%

Telecommunications provider Tuas has seen its shares climb this week after reporting a month on month increase in revenue by S$30m ($30.6m) to S$34.3m.

The company, which counts former TPG chairman David Teoh as its executive chairman, added that its operating arm TPG Singapore had tripled its paid subscriptions from 133,000 on 4 September 2020 to 392,000 on 31 July 2021.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for September 24 – October 1 [intraday]:

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Code Company Price % 1 Week MktCap$
EN1 Engage:Bdr Limited 0.003 -40 $ 9,143,993.57
ACB A-Cap Energy Ltd 0.078 -40 $ 67,135,134.68
TOM Tomizone Limited 0.002 -33 $ 850,401.35
FYI FYI Resources Ltd 0.545 -30 $ 288,063,260.93
FEL Fe Limited 0.045 -29 $ 35,772,281.16
FFT Future First Tech 0.041 -29 $ 17,461,317.60
AJY Asaplus Resources 0.043 -28 $ 5,848,000.00
AWN AWN Holdings Limited 0.715 -28 $ 28,314,143.00
ESS Essential Metals Ltd 0.17 -28 $ 41,583,495.45
PPK PPK Group Limited 14.67 -26 $ 1,367,911,968.76
EFE Eastern Iron 0.035 -26 $ 32,496,432.03
POD Podium Minerals 0.35 -26 $ 98,127,288.70
NPM Newpeak Metals 0.0015 -25 $ 13,654,870.31
PCH Property Connect 0.0015 -25 $ 1,028,795.21
WOO Wooboard Tech Ltd 0.0015 -25 $ 3,822,162.74
AJQ Armour Energy Ltd 0.025 -24 $ 40,117,805.43
SER Strategic Energy 0.037 -23 $ 8,409,267.65
TKM Trek Metals Ltd 0.12 -23 $ 30,153,424.47
LME Limeade Inc. 0.605 -22 $ 151,092,414.44
NVA Nova Minerals Ltd 0.1175 -22 $ 201,713,597.64
MEI Meteoric Resources 0.0245 -21 $ 32,094,996.94
OKJ Oakajee Corp Ltd 0.057 -21 $ 5,212,423.71
MTR Metal Tiger 0.385 -21 $ 7,729,135.26
UUL Ultima Utd Ltd 0.75 -20 $ 54,980,643.00
GRV Greenvale Mining Ltd 0.335 -19 $ 138,930,689.10
1VG Victory Goldfields 0.21 -19 $ 7,428,943.72
AEE Aura Energy 0.21 -19 $ 83,822,892.72
FNT Frontier Resources 0.017 -19 $ 11,545,946.68
MTM Mtmongerresources 0.17 -19 $ 4,717,500.00
NKL Nickelxltd 0.175 -19 $ 9,630,000.00
BMG BMG Resources Ltd 0.071 -18 $ 23,999,374.35
BXN Bioxyne Ltd 0.023 -18 $ 14,723,344.15
IQ3 Iq3Corp Limited 0.115 -18 $ 14,086,035.14
GTR Gti Resources 0.028 -18 $ 22,302,749.47
A1G African Gold Ltd. 0.21 -18 $ 18,481,568.80
LBT LBT Innovations 0.12 -17 $ 34,693,819.68
AGE Alligator Energy 0.068 -17 $ 190,004,161.26
ACP Audalia Res Ltd 0.01 -17 $ 6,921,361.91
CCE Carnegie Cln Energy 0.0025 -17 $ 44,707,721.13
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FYI Resources (ASX:FYI) -30%

Investors appeared to be unhappy that FYI’s binding agreement with Alcoa would see the mining giant take up more than 50% of the joint venture high purity alumina refining project.

This was despite Alcoa agreeing to pay the lion’s share of the demonstration and production facility construction costs.