Local markets opened higher this morning, despite a wobble on Wall Street overnight. The ASX 200 benchmark hit the ground running and managed to maintain a Biden-esque steadiness at or somewhere near +0.2% on the run up to lunch.
I’ll get into the details of that shortly, but first we’re off to China again, and – you’re not going to believe this – but there’s yet another counterfeiting scandal erupting that has social media all a-buzzin’.
It turns out that China’s longest, uninterrupted waterfall is a fake.
Boasting a vertical drop of 312 metres, and definitely Insta-worthy good looks, the Yuntai Waterfall is undeniably spectacular, attracting tourists from all over the world who gather at its base and make all the appropriate “ooh” and “aah” noises that Mother Nature loves to hear.
However, earlier this week a hiker in the tourist park was poking around at the top of the falls, and found this:
The source of Asia’s highest #waterfall is a water pipe? In Xiuwu County, Henan Province, the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area boasts the “highest waterfall in Asia,” the Yuntai Mountain Waterfall, with a staggering drop of 314 meters.
A man discovered with a #drone on Tuesday that… pic.twitter.com/m4EJ7rjQz7
— Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) June 4, 2024
Yes, that is most definitely a pipe that’s been concreted into the top of the falls, to keep it looking all nice and watery, even when there hasn’t been enough rain.
The video caught the attention of Chinese officials, who forced the operators of the park to issue an apology – which they did in a wonderfully baffling fashion, by putting out a press release written on behalf of the waterfall itself.
“I didn’t expect to meet everyone this way,” the waterfall said. “As a seasonal scenery I can’t guarantee that I will be in my most beautiful form everytime you come to see me.”
“I made a small enhancement during the dry season only so I would look my best to meet my friends,” the unusually loquacious geological structure continued.
So, it’s another case of “buyer beware” on the tourist trail in China. We can add it to the list of things that aren’t what they seem, alongside those “pandas” everyone’s still laughing about.
Tune in next week, when it’s revealed that the Great Wall of China is really a half-dozen slabs of drywall from Bunnings with a very convincing paint job, and the South China Sea turns out to be four Olympic swimming pools stickytaped together.
TO MARKETS
Local markets were up before lunchtime today, with gains among the goldies and other miners more than accounted for a slump among the techies in the lead up to lunch.
The sectors looked like this:
Chart via Marketindex.com.au
The ASX indices look like this:
Chart via Marketindex.com.au
Among the big winners this morning was mega-goldie Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG), which popped close to +6.0% despite a lack of fresh news.
That result is part of a very solid showing among the Materials sector, where no less than 22 companies were packing better than +10% gains so far today.
Consumer Discretionary was also surging this morning, with Aristocrat Leisure (ASX:ALL) adding weight to the gains with its own +1.7% boost.
One of the overarching reasons for the buoyancy we were seeing this morning was news from Europe that the ECB has followed Canadia’s lead, rolling out a 25 basis point interest rate cut – just like everyone was expecting.
But that doesn’t make it any less exciting for investors who have been groping around desperately for even the slightest hint that rate relief could be on the way, both here and in the US, where possible interest rate moves have been having a tediously massive impact on market sentiment for months.
It’s worth mentioning here again that RBA boss Michele Bullock spent the day being grilled at Senate Estimates in Canberra yesterday, and thankfully managed to survive the barrage of self-important weaponised gormlessness our beloved Upper House members dished out.
The take-home message from Bullock was the same as it’s been for months, namely:
I have one lever to pull to try to “fix” inflation.
I don’t know when I’m going to pull it, because I don’t have all the data.
I’ll pull it when I’m goddamned good and ready.
Deputy RBA Chair Andrew “Doogie” Hauser is making his first public appearance since rumours of him becoming Deputy Chair rocked Australia’s tabloid press.
He’s set to appear for a ‘fireside chat’ at an event called “Australia’s Economic Outlook” in Sydney today, where he’s expected to toe the company line. If he says anything fascinating, I’ll let you know.
NOT THE ASX
US investors were sending mixed messages overnight, as the market there braced for a crucial US jobs report which will play a significant role in determining the Fed Reserve’s next actions.
The S&P 500 fell by -0.02%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.20%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped by -0.09%.
In the run up to that payrolls report, which is due out on Friday at 8:30am NY time, Wall Street sifted through a bunch of other data last night.
US jobless claims were higher than expected, labour costs went up but not as much as predicted, and the trade deficit got bigger.
The banner headline in US stock news comes via memestock Gamestop, which has gone a bit nuts again thanks to investor Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty”, who recently broke a self-imposed social media hiatus to light another fire under the company’s share price.
Gill is famously in very deep with his money in GME shares – as this humblebrag posted to a certain subreddit suggests:
He’s also announced that he’s going to be hosting a livestream later on today, and the discussion is most likely going to focus on what he believes has been happening with Gamestop’s stock.
It’s… a lot. I have never the time, nor the patience, to try to pick it apart for you here – but if you’ve got nothing to do for the rest of the month and you feel like disappearing down a rabbit hole of QAnon + JFK Assassination conspiracy-driven crazy talk, then this could be just the thing to drive you slowly mad in time for Christmas.
The news (without the hysterical MOASS hype) is that whatever Gill’s up to, it’s definitely having an effect on GME’s price – it climbed +47% yesterday.
In other US stock news, Microsoft was up slightly and Nvidia was down -1% after reports that the US government was launching antitrust inquiries into both companies over their dominant roles in artificial intelligence.
In Asian markets this morning, things are looking fairly subdued throughout the region.
Japan’s Nikkei is down a smidgen at -0.36%, the usually quite gregarious Hang Seng is barely registering a -0.08% flatline, and Shanghai markets are as flat as a Canberra journo this morning, on +0.08%.
And if you’re looking for market news from Peru or Malta, there won’t be any because those two venues are closed for the day. Peru is celebrating Flag Day, while in Malta everyone has the day off to remember the time British troops murdered four people in 1919.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 07 June [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap JAY Jayride Group 0.011 38% 12,276 $1,890,473 LNU Linius Tech Limited 0.002 33% 2,585,500 $8,320,111 MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.002 33% 1,050,000 $4,405,470 SKN Skin Elements Ltd 0.004 33% 307,051 $1,768,458 WEL Winchester Energy 0.004 33% 3,102,000 $3,061,266 LTP Ltr Pharma Limited 0.840 31% 2,598,184 $45,059,512 REM Remsensetechnologies 0.030 30% 1,267,414 $3,791,773 IXC Invex Ther 0.078 30% 182,550 $4,509,231 BCK Brockman Mining Ltd 0.019 27% 1,935,251 $139,203,482 1AG Alterra Limited 0.005 25% 128,945 $3,448,586 ATH Alterity Therap Ltd 0.005 25% 2,185,168 $20,980,461 AUC Ausgold Limited 0.040 25% 10,375,666 $73,476,519 CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.010 25% 9,596,950 $11,045,767 SIH Sihayo Gold Limited 0.003 25% 215,575 $24,408,512 TMR Tempus Resources Ltd 0.005 25% 7,154,806 $2,923,995 DRE Dreadnought Resources Ltd 0.021 24% 32,632,170 $59,722,240 8VI 8Vi Holdings Limited 0.086 23% 9,451 $2,933,800 AEV Avenira Limited 0.006 20% 76,464 $11,745,170 BLZ Blaze Minerals Ltd 0.006 20% 51,000 $3,142,791 PRX Prodigy Gold NL 0.003 20% 40,000 $5,294,436 ASV Assetvisonco 0.020 18% 168,225 $12,339,222 AGC AGC Ltd 0.370 17% 2,284,966 $74,872,656 DXN DXN Limited 0.054 17% 473,411 $8,504,910 BFC Beston Global Ltd 0.004 17% 460,274 $5,991,141 TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.004 17% 14 $20,734,836
Jayride (ASX:JAY) enjoyed a boost on Friday morning, after providing a trading update on its airport transfer marketplace business that showed that “contribution profit continued to increase on a lower passenger trips base”, which the company says is a validation of its recently updated business strategy.
LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP) had a firm grip on the winner’s list on Friday morning, after some solid news from its recent primary and secondary clinical studies for its Spontan erectile dysfunction spray.
Initial data showed that Spontan’s nasal spray reached the same Cmax (maximum concentration) level as an oral administration, despite being administered at a lower dose, with volunteers showing observable effects of the drug in as little as 9 minutes, with an average of 12 minutes across the study compared to 56 minutes (Tmax) in patients receiving oral treatment.
RemSense Technologies (ASX:REM) was the early leader on Friday morning, climbing nicely on news of a new contract with Chevron Australia to undertake virtualplant high-resolution photogrammetry scanning and image processing of Chevron’s Gorgon LNG Train 1 in northwestern Australia for a contract value of $534,195.33.
Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) was up early on news that mineralogical work at its Gifford Creek Carbonatite – part of DRE’s 100% owned Mangaroon Critical Minerals project – has confirmed that the dominant niobium mineral is pyrochlore, which is a high niobium mineral (>50%) from which ~95% of global niobium is produced.
Gold project developer MetalsTech (ASX:MTC) says a key condition has been satisfied for its ~$120m (~A$0.639 per share) acquisition by Trans Metals Fund, following the granting of underground mining activity permit No. 2440-3935/2023 for the Sturec Gold Mine.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 07 June [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.001 -50% 70,000 $4,352,462 GRV Greenvale Energy Ltd 0.055 -35% 2,191,424 $37,417,881 ICU Investor Centre Ltd 0.002 -33% 2,046,552 $913,534 MRQ Mrg Metals Limited 0.001 -33% 1,762,749 $3,787,678 ENT Enterprise Metals 0.003 -25% 13,693 $3,538,884 HCD Hydrocarbon Dynamic 0.003 -25% 955 $3,234,329 TD1 Tali Digital Limited 0.002 -25% 1,500,000 $6,590,311 NPM Newpeak Metals 0.020 -23% 84,790 $3,214,078 LML Lincoln Minerals 0.007 -22% 14,053,629 $15,336,407 88E 88 Energy Ltd 0.002 -20% 2,128,974 $72,231,680 ADD Adavale Resource Ltd 0.004 -20% 750,008 $5,201,327 ESR Estrella Res Ltd 0.004 -20% 118,960 $8,796,859 PUR Pursuit Minerals 0.004 -20% 102,502 $14,719,857 SGC Sacgasco Ltd 0.004 -20% 1,620,193 $3,898,435 VRC Volt Resources Ltd 0.004 -20% 11,458 $20,793,391 BPP Babylon Pump & Power 0.005 -17% 85,000 $14,997,294 BKG Booktopia Group 0.041 -16% 271,865 $11,182,050 CLU Cluey Ltd 0.042 -16% 106,500 $10,080,678 FTL Firetail Resources 0.098 -15% 3,578,921 $17,124,139 AQX Alice Queen Ltd 0.006 -14% 790 $4,836,930 POS Poseidon Nick Ltd 0.006 -14% 791,261 $25,994,743 TGN Tungsten Min NL 0.060 -14% 28,641 $55,048,999 TMG Trigg Minerals Ltd 0.006 -14% 85,119 $3,024,915 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.003 -14% 2,337,187 $20,632,734 STM Sunstone Metals Ltd 0.010 -14% 13,349,069 $42,220,940
ICYMI – AM EDITION
European Lithium (ASX:EUR) has received a major confidence boost with one of the world’s largest automotive makers, BMW, providing US$15m in offtake financing to the Wolfsberg lithium project in Austria.
Greenvale Energy (ASX:GRV) has issued a further 18.5 million shares to Pioneer Resource Partners as partial repayment of its loan facility, reducing the face value from $3.28m to $2.28m.
The company also intends to offer eligible shareholders the opportunity to purchase up to $30,000 worth of shares priced at 5c each to raise up to $1.9m.
Proceeds will be used to advance development studies for its Alpha Torbanite project and support exploration activities at the newly acquired EP145 helium project.
Victory Metals’ (ASX:VTM) cash position has been strengthened by the receipt of a $773,335 R&D tax offset for the 2023 financial year.
The funds relate to research and development activities carried out at the company’s s North Stanmore heavy rare earth element project near Cue, Western Australia.
With further eligible R&D activities undertaken at North Stanmore during the 2024 financial year, the company expects to be able to claim further tax offsets in the coming financial year.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While European Lithium, Greenvale Energy and Victory Metals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
The post ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Whose wonderful waterfall is a big, fat phony this week? appeared first on Stockhead.
