Small Caps and IPO Weekly Wrap: Weak ASX week, as 2023’s sizzling lithium IPO jumps +145pc

ASX was looking good at times but finishes the week down -0.25%
Financials top the winning sectors, while discretionary leads laggards
Sunshine Metals stuns with 17m gold hit of >22g/t in Queensland

Flat days, up days and down days have seen the Aussie bourse finish the week slightly down, falling 0.25%. Among the highlights of the week – RBA governor Michelle Bullock’s hawkish tilt around town.

Bullock told the ASIC Annual Forum in Melbourne RBA is ready to hike rates again if wage rises are not accompanied by productivity gains.

She said wage growth is the biggest challenge to the RBA’s goal of returning inflation back to its 2-3% target (currently at 5.4%).

The RBA’s new governor then warned of a ‘homegrown’ inflation challenge at the Australian Business Economists dinner, saying the central bank will use its “blunt tool” of interest rates to dent inflation for the collective welfare of Australians.

Separately, the RBA minutes for the November’s meeting were also released this week, revealing that board members raised the cash rate to 4.35% earlier this month because they were concerned businesses were passing higher inflation costs on to Australian consumers.

The US Fed Reserve also released its minutes from the November meeting, which revealed that board members have not shut the door on another rate hike.

Hot tech stock for 2023, the NASDAQ-listed Nvidia’s shares reported its quarterly results post the closing bell on Tuesday, getting a tepid reaction from investors and tumbling almost 1% despite continuing its string of blistering quarterly earnings reports.

Nvidia beat its own guidance by US$2bn after Q3 sales tripled from a year earlier to US$18.1 billion, while profit surged 14x to US$9.2 billion. The share price is up ~240% YTD.

This week saw an increase in oil prices, reaching US$76/barrel for WTI, yet they remain below the levels observed at the beginning of conflict in Gaza.

Furthermore there are expectations that OPEC+ might not deepen output cuts next year. The producer group has postponed its policy meeting to November 30th, adding to production cut uncertainties.

Iron ore surged to $127/tonne marking its highest value since June 2022, driven by positive expectations stemming from news Chinese regulators were drafting a list of 50 private and state-owned developers eligible for funding to help bolster the property sector.

At the end of the week Thanksgiving holidays in the US and Japan saw lighter volumes.

Financial top the leaders board but few sectors in green

Source: Market Index

Just three sectors were in the green this week with financials topping the leader board with materials and energy an equal second place.

Leading the laggards was discretionary stocks, followed by information technology and real estate.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from November 20-24:

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

Code Company Price % Week Market Cap CC9 Chariot Corporation 1.04 145% $53,165,387 SHN Sunshine Metals Ltd 0.022 100% $13,464,093 AMM Armada Metals 0.056 93% $10,354,084 M2M Mt Malcolm Mines NL 0.034 79% $3,479,679 ROO Roots Sustainable 0.007 75% $1,124,217 AML Aeon Metals Ltd 0.012 71% $13,156,807 RNX Renegade Exploration 0.01 67% $8,727,514 CXU Cauldron Energy Ltd 0.019 58% $20,378,942 POD Podium Minerals 0.055 57% $20,038,513 VMM Viridis Mining 1.94 53% $83,760,315 TG1 Techgen Metals Ltd 0.1 52% $6,404,967 ASP Aspermont Limited 0.012 50% $29,265,164 AUH Austchina Holdings 0.003 50% $6,233,651 BP8 Bph Global Ltd 0.0015 50% $1,615,563 KNM Kneomedia Limited 0.003 50% $4,599,814 M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.0045 50% $12,335,389 SIT Site Group Int Ltd 0.003 50% $7,807,471 VPR Volt Power Group 0.0015 50% $16,074,312 PLG Pearlgullironlimited 0.04 48% $8,181,672 PRS Prospech Limited 0.037 48% $7,911,359 LVH Livehire Limited 0.058 45% $21,026,161 NWF Newfield Resources 0.13 44% $114,666,141 TCG Turaco Gold Limited 0.1 43% $48,260,800 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.014 40% $11,514,245 RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp 0.007 40% $4,316,785 TAS Tasman Resources Ltd 0.007 40% $4,276,016 AMT Allegra Medical 0.057 39% $6,219,773 MRR Minrex Resources Ltd 0.022 38% $23,867,085 TMG Trigg Minerals Ltd 0.011 38% $3,747,562 RGL Riversgold 0.015 36% $10,463,876 WSR Westar Resources 0.027 35% $5,190,010 CAG Caperange 0.12 35% $11,388,996 UBI Universal Biosensors 0.255 34% $40,350,193 AHN Athena Resources 0.004 33% $4,281,870 AVM Advance Metals Ltd 0.004 33% $2,167,040 MOH Moho Resources 0.012 33% $6,120,800 MTL Mantle Minerals Ltd 0.004 33% $24,589,783 PNX PNX Metals Limited 0.004 33% $21,522,499 SRY Story-I Limited 0.004 33% $1,505,619 JRV Jervois Global Ltd 0.044 33% $113,505,869 RHK Red Hawk Mining Ltd 0.65 33% $113,128,547 MZZ Matador Mining Ltd 0.053 33% $20,502,005 YRL Yandal Resources 0.092 31% $16,911,517 14D 1414 Degrees Limited 0.059 31% $13,099,269 GHY Gold Hydrogen 0.78 31% $54,646,102 NFL Norfolk Metals 0.3 30% $7,732,874 VEE Veem Ltd 0.86 30% $106,539,770 PTR Petratherm Ltd 0.057 30% $12,810,815 ALM Alma Metals Ltd 0.009 29% $10,026,007 ENV Enova Mining Limited 0.009 29% $5,768,364

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One of the biggest lithium IPOs of 2023, Chariot Corporation (ASX:CC9) was up 145% this week on no specific news. CC9 has one of the largest lithium exploration landholdings in the US and various JVs, farm outs and optioned projects.

READ: How Chariot outsmarted a major to get a mountain of lithium. Literally, a mountain

Sunshine Metals (ASX:SHN) rose 100% this week after the microcap announced it had intersected multiple high-grade gold zones in the first of 12 RC holes at its Liontown prospect at the Ravenswood Consolidated project in northern QLD, including 17m @ 22.14g/t from 67m.

The zones are interpreted to be gold and copper-rich feeder zones to the overlying 2.3Mt resource

Armada Metals (ASX:AMM) rose 93% this week after picking up four early-stage lithium exploration projects for $150k cash and 26m shares in the emerging hard rock hub of Brazil.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks from November 20-24:

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

Code Company Price % Week Market Cap ACM Australian Critical Minerals 0.19 -58% $5,500,281 ASR Asra Minerals Ltd 0.0085 -39% $13,105,851 MXC MGC Pharmaceuticals 0.705 -39% $25,687,106 GMR Golden Rim Resources 0.011 -39% $7,099,060 BEX Bikeexchange Ltd 0.005 -38% $7,163,149 PPS Praemium Limited 0.385 -37% $182,172,445 APX Appen Limited 0.61 -34% $94,152,959 AYM Australia United Min 0.002 -33% $3,685,155 KEY KEY Petroleum 0.001 -33% $1,967,928 NZS New Zealand Coastal 0.002 -33% $3,334,020 MMM Marley Spoon Se 0.031 -33% $3,649,456 OZM Ozaurum Resources 0.135 -33% $23,018,750 CSS Clean Seas Ltd 0.265 -31% $58,748,777 SHO Sportshero Ltd 0.017 -29% $11,500,022 ATH Alterity Therap Ltd 0.005 -29% $9,759,590 ERW Errawarra Resources 0.175 -29% $16,786,117 INP Incentiapay Ltd 0.005 -29% $6,325,318 DCL Domacom Limited 0.023 -28% $10,016,541 RDN Raiden Resources Ltd 0.054 -28% $134,222,217 OCN Oceana Lithium 0.13 -28% $7,165,328 ARV Artemis Resources 0.026 -28% $40,608,765 PIM Pinnacle Minerals 0.17 -28% $4,859,250 IS3 I Synergy Group Ltd 0.008 -27% $2,432,643 CGR CGN Resources 0.15 -27% $14,524,511 SVY Stavely Minerals Ltd 0.051 -26% $21,006,705 JAY Jayride Group 0.037 -26% $9,376,365 IXR Ionic Rare Earths 0.02 -26% $79,122,098 8VI 8Vi Holdings Limited 0.06 -25% $2,556,597 AVW Avira Resources Ltd 0.0015 -25% $3,200,685 BYH Bryah Resources Ltd 0.015 -25% $5,737,685 CTN Catalina Resources 0.003 -25% $4,334,704 ENT Enterprise Metals 0.003 -25% $2,398,413 HCD Hydrocarbon Dynamic 0.006 -25% $4,547,661 MKG Mako Gold 0.0105 -25% $6,048,086 PAB Patrys Limited 0.0075 -25% $18,517,026 PNT Panther Metals 0.057 -25% $3,669,000 WFL Wellfully Limited 0.003 -25% $1,478,832 HLS Healius 1.325 -25% $735,195,466 RAS Ragusa Minerals Ltd 0.044 -24% $6,702,143 PRM Prominence Energy 0.013 -24% $2,308,146 IVZ Invictus Energy Ltd 0.1475 -22% $174,261,266 USL Unico Silver Limited 0.09 -22% $26,940,695 CPO Culpeo Minerals 0.029 -22% $3,496,871 ASO Aston Minerals Ltd 0.029 -22% $38,851,928 NC6 Nanollose Limited 0.022 -21% $3,495,500 OAU Ora Gold Limited 0.0055 -21% $33,733,005 CHR Charger Metals 0.26 -21% $16,770,879 BUB Bubs Aust Ltd 0.13 -21% $124,265,466 TNC True North Copper 0.1225 -21% $32,480,181 GRE Green Tech Metals 0.59 -20% $38,216,266

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ASX IPO listings

There were no IPOs on the ASX this week. You can read more in Eddy Sunarto’s IPO Wrap, which was published earlier today.

According to the ASX website, there are are two companies scheduled to make their ASX debut next week. However, it’s worth noting IPO dates can, and frequently do, change without notice.

Who won the days?

Monday – Virdis Mining and Minerals (ASX:VNM) rose 68% after announcing ‘major ionic clay rare earth discoveries’ at Colossus, with 46m at 3,285 ppm Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) from surface.

Tuesday – Israeli-based Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies (ASX:ROO) rose 75% after announcing it had delivered equipment required for its root zone cooling technology for UAE customer Silal Food & Technology LLC despite what it terms “difficult conditions on the ground in Israel”.

Wednesday – Westar Resources (ASX:WSR) rose 39% after announcing drilling at its Olga Rocks Project in Western Australia to ‘test the reinterpretation for potential pegmatite-hosted lithium and also target a prospective horizon for high grade gold mineralisation that is largely underexplored’.

Thursday – Armada Metals (ASX:AMM) was up 38% after announcing it had picked up four early-stage lithium exploration projects for $150k cash and 26m shares in the emerging hard rock hub of Brazil.

Friday – Sunshine Metals rose 91% for reasons mentioned above.

Far Northern Resources (ASX:FNR)

Expected listing: November 24
IPO: $10m at $0.20

Freedom Care Group (ASX:FCG)

Expected listing: November 30
IPO: $3.2m at $0.20

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Sunshine Metals, Roots Sustainable Agricultural Technologies and Chariot Corporation are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

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