As the week draws to a close, Australia’s federal government is still locked in a battle with Facebook about whether the social media giant will pay for news.
For now, Facebook has wiped all Aussie news from its platform. And the stoush has drawn the interest of global media outlets, with more talks scheduled between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Mark Zuckerberg.
Over on markets it hasn’t been a particularly memorable week, with the ASX microcap Emerging Companies Index on track for its fourth straight day of falls after a 2.22pc gain on Monday.
But within the headline numbers, a bunch of ASX small caps generated some barnstorming returns on a mixture of strong news flow and monster trading volumes.
13 stocks posted a weekly return of 100 per cent of more (up from 11 last week), led by a Canberra casino operator that booked in a historic two-day surge on Thursday and Friday.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
The two-day returns for AQS, which has traded in a narrow range beneath 10c since 2015, would have to rival any short-term rally in ASX history.
Out of nowhere, shares in AQS (which acquired the Canberra Casino in 2014) shot higher by more than 200 per cent on Thursday. When the ASX asked why, AQS said it didn’t know.
That was followed by a monumental rally to end the week, capping a run from less than 4c to more than 50c.
AQS has been undertaking a multi-year application process with the ACT government for a $300m project development that would expand the casino into a broader entertainment precinct.
FFG was one of a number of ASX fintech stocks this week to surge higher on no news, and closed almost 300pc higher for the week.
Other companies on the fintech winner’s list were Credit Intelligence (ASX:CI1), up 100pc, and Novatti (ASX:NOV), up 55pc.
While various ASX players look to build out their business models, the gains are a possible indicator that investors are on the lookout for the next big thing in the wake of 2020’s barnstorming gains in the BNPL sector.
IOUpay was another fintech company that posted huge gains to start the week.
But the company also followed that up with some material news flow, announcing a marquee $50m share placement to institutional investors.
IOU’s core operating market is Malaysia, where it recently obtained a financial services licences and is looking to leverage its local partnerships to build out a BNPL service in the region.
Outside of fintechs and surging casino operators, cannabis pharmaceuticals company MGC Pharma also rose strongly in what was a busy week.
As well as becoming the first medicinal cannabis player to list on the London Stock Exchange, MXC also struck an exclusive three-year deal with Swiss PharmaCan for world-wide distribution of its clinically proven anti-inflammatory treatment.
And on the resources front, PRL stood out after the market stood up and applauded its pivot to hydrogen.
In a previous life, Province operated as a furniture assembly business (AssembleBay) and a vanadium explorer (ScandiVanadium).
But the stock went vertical after PRL announced it had acquired the Gascoyne and HyEnergy projects in WA’s north-west, which comprise a number of development opportunities including a green hydrogen play.
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for February 15-19 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Company Price ReturnWRoll% MktCap$ AQS Aquis Ent Ltd 0.5 1371 $ 4,107,705 FFG Fatfish Group 0.16 266 $ 134,653,315 PRL Province Resources 0.078 239 $ 58,938,865 TTA TTA Holdings Ltd 0.048 220 $ 3,435,585 FGO Fargo Enterprises 0.012 200 $ 14,229,080 ACS Accent Resources NL 0.115 161 $ 53,593,138 MXC MGC Pharmaceuticals 0.115 145 $ 211,736,789 RXH Rewardle Holding Ltd 0.019 138 $ 7,368,501 OEX Oilex Ltd 0.0035 133 $ 12,500,328 ASP Aspermont Limited 0.046 130 $ 106,208,942 IOU Ioupay Limited 0.645 126 $ 281,551,291 SHG Singular Health 0.45 125 $ 21,521,100 CI1 Credit Intelligence 0.058 100 $ 80,963,282 MGL Magontec Limited 0.035 94 $ 17,263,872 BD1 Bard1 Life Sciences 2.85 79 $ 237,058,783 RFX Redflow Limited 0.085 77 $ 91,249,907 MAY Melbana Energy Ltd 0.028 75 $ 62,554,988 CRO Cirralto Ltd 0.115 74 $ 197,636,305 ADY Admiralty Resources. 0.024 71 $ 26,660,098 IP1 Int Payment Tech Ltd 0.048 71 $ 69,937,775 PUR Pursuit Minerals 0.052 68 $ 27,216,224 ADX ADX Energy Ltd 0.01 67 $ 24,651,477 T3D 333D Limited 0.005 67 $ 5,508,621 AO1 Assetowl Limited 0.013 63 $ 6,428,566 SHO Sportshero Ltd 0.055 57 $ 25,648,307 NOV Novatti Group Ltd 0.41 55 $ 104,492,007 CXM Centrex Metals 0.04 54 $ 10,997,003 BPH BPH Energy Ltd 0.18 50 $ 109,562,488 LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.015 50 $ 13,691,334 ANL Amani Gold Ltd 0.0015 50 $ 18,773,993 ANW Aus Tin Mining 0.0015 50 $ 7,962,318 CLZ Classic Min Ltd 0.0015 50 $ 17,034,968 CYQ Cycliq Group Ltd 0.003 50 $ 6,911,078 PBX Pacific Bauxite Ltd 0.003 50 $ 1,189,842 VMG VDM Group Limited 0.003 50 $ 20,782,983 FFT Future First Tech 0.087 47 $ 49,779,527 XAM Xanadu Mines Ltd 0.047 47 $ 51,316,552 DOU Douugh Limited 0.24 41 $ 86,254,515 SI6 SI6 Metals Limited 0.024 41 $ 33,384,017 CTT Cettire 1.03 41 $ 371,707,265
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for February 15-19 [intraday]:
Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:
Code Company Price ReturnWRoll% MktCap$ GGX Gas2Grid Limited 0.005 -62 $ 5,343,987.94 AGY Argosy Minerals Ltd 0.11 -37 $ 150,032,604.48 MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.018 -36 $ 23,873,016.47 ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.001 -33 $ 9,601,032.79 YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.002 -33 $ 9,442,102.58 A3D Aurora Labs Limited 0.14 -33 $ 22,934,470.50 TOM Tomizone Limited 0.002 -33 $ 850,401.35 EGR Ecograf Limited 0.68 -32 $ 294,829,282.08 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.013 -32 $ 22,970,925.32 GMR Golden Rim Resources 0.009 -31 $ 22,763,647.22 WML Woomera Mining Ltd 0.023 -30 $ 7,484,106.17 STK Strickland Metals 0.024 -29 $ 10,528,788.03 AWN AWN Holdings Limited 1 -28 $ 41,184,208.00 AWJ Auric Mining 0.18 -28 $ 7,491,175.03 RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.016 -27 $ 5,214,305.31 NME Nex Metals Explorat 0.03 -27 $ 8,010,708.72 BGL Bellevue Gold Ltd 0.76 -26 $ 642,654,092.12 MSV Mitchell Services 0.42 -26 $ 84,676,464.50 PCH Property Connect 0.0015 -25 $ 1,028,795.21 CII CI Resources Limited 0.9 -24 $ 106,334,618.44 AD1 AD1 Holdings Limited 0.042 -24 $ 25,387,168.72 SPA Spacetalk Ltd 0.115 -23 $ 20,672,680.63 88E 88 Energy Ltd 0.0085 -23 $ 95,954,313.88 TMX Terrain Minerals 0.007 -22 $ 5,150,327.06 BEM Blackearth Minerals 0.145 -22 $ 23,294,172.45 AZS Azure Minerals 0.35 -21 $ 109,370,430.96 SNG Siren Gold 0.049 -21 $ 27,245,107.80 CTE Cryosite Limited 0.25 -21 $ 11,246,295.12 3DA Amaero International 0.6 -21 $ 74,990,605.08 EMV Emvision Medical 2.18 -20 $ 152,847,777.60 AAJ Aruma Resources Ltd 0.075 -20 $ 7,735,147.67 CAN Cann Group Ltd 0.695 -20 $ 187,915,414.94
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