Before we get to stocks…
Bitcoin is holding above all-time highs, while US crypto exchange Coinbase led the global IPO news this week with a marquee listing on the Nasdaq which values it at around $US100bn.
Oh, and Dogecoin (founded as a meme by an Aussie) is up by almost 4,000 per cent this year.
But if you can peel your eyes away from the crypto screens, the usual round of thrills and spills in ASX microcaps has once again resulted in some strong weekly returns (and losses).
Read on for the list of weekly winners that may have slid under the radar amid the 2021 crypto craze.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Merchant House (ASX:MHI) +198%
The Hong Kong-based nanocap topped the pops this week, and that was all due to a monster move on Friday morning.
COVID-19 gave the company’s China-based textile operations a serious dent, to the tune of half its annual revenues.
But on Friday, MHI announced it had stitched up a deal to sell its textile business — Carsan (Shunde) Manufacturing Co Ltd — to Foshan XiongYing Logisitics Co. for $US20m.
Shares in MHI promptly surged back above 12c — their highest level since March 30, 2020 — before going into a trading halt pending a further announcement.
Magnetite Mines (ASX:MGT) +72%
If you’d chucked a few bob on this junior iron ore explorer last July at 0.2c, you’d be up about 3,500 per cent on your money right now.
Another strong week of gains saw the stock push above 7c on Friday, with no major operational news flow acting as a catalyst.
Instead, professional investor Steve Collette reckons the stock is “in the hands of the momentum traders and the tape readers now“.
MGT answered an ASX price query on Monday, saying it wasn’t aware of any news that would prompt such material gains in its share price.
So far in April the company has released a bunch of Appendix 2As relating to the exercising of stock options, and Appendix 3Gs relating to the conversion of equity securities.
Univeral Biosensors (ASX:UBI) +66%
The medical diagnostics company rounded out this week’s top three, continuing its strong run after a big jump last Friday, April 9.
Shares in UBI ripped higher after the company announced a new supply agreement with Lubris BioSystems for a key component used in the manufacturing of its biosensor device.
UBI’s head of R&D Luke Cossins said the integration of the Lubricin protein is a “generational advancement to our technological capacity” that “paves the way for many new biosensor products”.
The company followed that up this week by announcing a new research deal with two Australian universities — Deakin and Swinburne — along with distribution deals in Chile and the USA.
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for April 13-16 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Company Price ReturnWRoll% MktCap$ MHI Merchant House 0.14 198 $4,430,525 MGT Magnetite Mines 0.074 72 $194,645,273 UBI Universal Biosensors 0.79 66 $133,150,776 JRL Jindalee Resources 2.98 62 $145,703,263 MAI Mainstream Group 1.98 59 $272,726,644 WKT Walkabout Resources 0.285 58 $101,248,757 LITCF Lithium Australia NL 0.075 53 $8,817,129 ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.0015 50 $10,786,997 CLZ Classic Min Ltd 0.0015 50 $35,114,383 NPM Newpeak Metals 0.003 50 $17,022,484 PBX Pacific Bauxite Ltd 0.003 50 $1,189,842 DCC DigitalX Limited 0.084 47 $60,407,091 LCY Legacy Iron Ore 0.022 47 $128,094,770 SCI Silver City Minerals 0.04 43 $19,062,465 LIO Lion Energy Limited 0.039 39 $7,881,268 MSI Multistack International 0.057 39 $6,289,020 IVZ Invictus Energy Ltd 0.215 39 $103,435,711 ADO Anteotech Ltd 0.325 35 $580,952,028 PNM Pacific Nickel Mines 0.06 33 $8,986,475 TPD Talon Petroleum Ltd 0.012 33 $70,270,224 MXO Motio Ltd 0.145 32 $31,280,740 SGQ St George Min Ltd 0.1 32 $50,354,338 FFX Firefinch Ltd 0.3 32 $226,854,715 GBE Globe Metals & Mining 0.046 31 $21,898,352 OXX Octanex Ltd 0.038 31 $10,441,425 DUB Dubber Corp Ltd 2.35 31 $570,461,458 MNS Magnis Energy Tech 0.425 31 $356,284,170 NAE New Age Exploration 0.017 31 $18,293,144 TIA Tian An Aust Limited 0.365 30 $31,612,223 EQE Equus Mining Ltd 0.013 30 $23,647,295 SUV Suvo Strategic 0.2 29 $85,617,849 RTR Rumble Res Limited 0.18 29 $95,794,925 PLT Plenti Group Limited 1.23 28 $200,174,384 MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.16 28 $68,044,077
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
The junior resources explorer returned to listed life this week, after being in suspension since 2019.
After clearing up a bunch of legacy issues, raising some extra capital and issuing a prospectus, Elmore announced in March that it was on track to meet the relevant criteria for a re-listing on the ASX.
Shares in the company opened at 3c on Wednesday, with the stock trading in a narrow range near 2c since rejoining the ASX boards.
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for April 13-16 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
| Code | Company | Price | ReturnWRoll% | MktCap$ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELE | Elmore Ltd | 0.022 | -68 | $ 14,583,220.37 |
| ACS | Accent Resources NL | 0.04 | -56 | $ 18,641,091.32 |
| AJY | Asaplus Resources | 0.06 | -40 | $ 8,160,000.00 |
| KP2 | Kore Potash PLC | 0.02 | -38 | $ 9,030,108.98 |
| TOM | Tomizone Limited | 0.002 | -33 | $ 850,401.35 |
| VIC | Victory Mines Ltd | 0.002 | -33 | $ 13,795,631.93 |
| UUV | UUV Aquabotix Ltd | 0.002 | -33 | $ 5,970,937.03 |
| PTR | Petratherm Ltd | 0.1 | -29 | $ 19,493,944.99 |
| ECT | Env Clean Tech Ltd. | 0.0015 | -25 | $ 19,202,065.57 |
| T3D | 333D Limited | 0.003 | -25 | $ 4,131,465.82 |
| AZI | Alta Zinc Ltd | 0.006 | -25 | $ 30,384,894.23 |
| PCH | Property Connect | 0.0015 | -25 | $ 1,028,795.21 |
| MRC | Mineral Commodities | 0.23 | -25 | $ 107,216,769.19 |
| OEL | Otto Energy Limited | 0.013 | -24 | $ 57,540,117.28 |
| 88E | 88 Energy Ltd | 0.023 | -23 | $ 288,008,079.91 |
| WOO | Wooboard Tech Ltd | 0.0055 | -21 | $ 20,655,228.41 |
| OEX | Oilex Ltd | 0.0055 | -21 | $ 25,606,718.32 |
| CZN | Corazon Ltd | 0.039 | -20 | $ 9,340,490.62 |
| OLH | Oldfields Holdings | 0.051 | -20 | $ 8,553,032.88 |
| BSM | Bass Metals Ltd | 0.008 | -20 | $ 34,413,411.40 |
| NES | Nelson Resources. | 0.084 | -20 | $ 11,928,801.74 |
| KEY | KEY Petroleum | 0.004 | -20 | $ 7,871,712.50 |
| GGX | Gas2Grid Limited | 0.004 | -20 | $ 8,006,204.16 |
| SRJ | SRJ Technologies | 0.305 | -20 | $ 24,419,722.80 |
| ROG | Red Sky Energy. | 0.0105 | -19 | $ 50,945,644.17 |
| RBR | RBR Group Ltd | 0.0065 | -19 | $ 8,332,870.56 |
| KZA | Kazia Therapeutics | 1.53 | -19 | $ 193,671,628.92 |
| AKO | Akora Resources | 0.36 | -18 | $ 19,964,724.00 |
| MCM | Mc Mining Ltd | 0.115 | -18 | $ 17,758,248.83 |
| GLV | Global Oil & Gas | 0.024 | -17 | $ 17,563,878.82 |
| PSC | Prospect Res Ltd | 0.17 | -17 | $ 61,436,718.64 |
| AGR | Aguia Res Ltd | 0.083 | -17 | $ 26,149,721.36 |
| WWG | Wisewaygroupltd | 0.32 | -17 | $ 46,022,006.08 |