After some haywire market-moving events in May, stocks look to be cruising into the end of the month on auto-pilot.

Local stocks are buoyant to end the week, as the ASX200 pushes further above 7,000 with a gain of more than 1%.

The relaxed vibes follow a fairly tense inflation fright to start the month, as markets reacted to a big CPI print and questioned whether central banks really do have things under control.

Even crypto has taken a load off, with BTC stabilising (for now) just below $US40k in the wake of pretty hectic slump.

Calm before the storm? Well it’s fair to say that ‘winter is coming’ (on Tuesday), but for the time being it seems Aussie investors can breathe easy, stay long and enjoy the last weekend of Autumn.
 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 24-28 [intraday]:

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Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN)

The PGE (Platinum-Group Elements) explorer was one of three small caps to post triple-digit percentage gains during the week, after a promising round of drilling results at its Yarawindah Brook nickel-copper-PGE project in New Norcia, WA.

As Stockhead’s Josh Chiat pointed out earlier this week, New Norcia is “a place best known for its baked goods and community of Benedictine monks”.

But CPN is also on the hunt for minerals in the vicinity of Chalice Mines’ (ASX:CHN) world-class palladium-nickel-copper discovery at Julimar.

And the market liked the look of its latest drilling program, which revealed broad zones of copper and nickel sulphide mineralisation which CEO Greg Miles believes “is a good visual proxy for potential PGE mineralisation”.

Swoop Holdings (ASX:SWP)

The latest telco to join the ASX boards had a sterling debut, and was trading towards the weekend at $1.15 — a premium of 150pc to its listing price.

As far as market entries go, it often helps when the chair of your company is someone like James Spenceley, who already has experience turning a telco from a small cap to a large cap with Vocus (ASX:VOC).

Stockhead’s Nick Sundich spoke with Spenceley earlier this week on all things tech, telco and IPOs. Get the inside scoop here.

Variscan Mines Ltd (ASX:VAR)

VAR explorer rounded out this week’s top three after unearthing some high-grade zinc mineralisation above and below the Central Zone stopes of its historic San Jose mine in Spain.

Shares in the company surged by 81% on Wednesday following the announcement, which has the market excited because it’s indicative of additional resources further below ground that haven’t been drilled yet.

CEO Stewart Dickson said the discovery is “typical of a classical MVT style deposit and similar to the nearby, world class Reocin Mine”, which “further illustrates the quality of the deposit”.
 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 24-28 [intraday]:

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

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