Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Monday, 10 December – a date on the calendar that sends shivers down the spine of many monarchists, as it was on this day in 1936 that King Edward VIII of England abruptly quit being King, so he could marry an American divorcee.

It was, as you could probably imagine, a massive scandal at the time, with the still very conservative British public up in arms over the fact that their King – the head of the Church of England – wanted to go directly against the teachings of that church and get hitched to Wallis Simpson.

Simpson had already been through two husbands when she and the King fell in love – her first husband was US Naval pilot and legendary alcoholic Earl Winfield Spencer Jr, whose penchant for crashing planes made him the talk of the town.

Her second marriage to shipping magnate Ernest Aldrich Simpson ended badly, with Ernest travelling frequently to keep his struggling business afloat, Wallis Simpson became something of a lady of leisure in London.

She was introduced to the then Prince Edward, heir to the throne, through her friend Consuela, whose sister was doinking the Prince – and it wasn’t long before Simpson and the Prince became romantically entangled.

On January 20, 1936, Edward’s father – King George VI – dropped dead, leaving Edward to take up the throne. However, it was pretty clear that he was in something of a pickle, thanks to his relationship with Simpson.

When it came time for the proclamation of his accession to the throne, Edward distanced himself – literally – from proceedings, watching the ceremony take place from a window of St James Palace, his still-married girlfriend by his side.

Things came to a head as the year wore on. Edward’s plan to marry Simpson met with fierce resistance from the Royal Family, the British Government and the general public.

Faced with a choice between being King of England, or marrying Simpson, the King chose the latter and stepped down. His brother, Albert, was renamed George for some reason, and he became King instead.

As interesting as that story is, it wasn’t the end of Edward’s controversial public life – he became pretty chummy with a rising star of German politics … some fella called Hitler, maybe you’ve heard of him.

Anyway – his closeness with one of the greatest monsters of the 20th century didn’t go unnoticed, and in an effort to avoid any further embarrassment, the former King Edward was graciously awarded the title of Governor of the Bahamas, to where he was effectively exiled as World War II continued to rage on.

There’s tons more to this story, but I’m going to have to leave it there… because we’ve all got stuff we need to do this morning, and the more I waffle on, the less time you’ll have to read the fruits of the Stockhead team’s labours this morning.

That includes Eddy Sunartos’s chat with the CEO of Plenti, who has “plenti” to be happy about after NAB snapped up 15% of his company because Aussies are going mad for new cars.

Plus, below you’ll find all the usual digits and data to get your motor rumbling before the market opens today.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,025.75 (-0.01%)

Silver: US$23.80 (-0.54%)

Nickel (3mth): US$16,247.50/t (+1.18%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,296.50/t (+0.53%)

Oil (WTI): US$69.76 (+0.74%)

Oil (Brent): US$74.69 (+0.55%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$130.77/t (+0.24%)

AUD/USD: 0.6533 (-0.26%)

Bitcoin: US$44,038.90 (+0.69%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

All the muttering and murmuring about a merger between Woodside and Santos raises a very important question: What would that merger look like, if it went ahead? Luckily for us, Bevis Yeo has the answer…

So just what would a merger between Woodside and Santos look like? https://t.co/EdO5L23qS2

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) December 8, 2023

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap SIH Sihayo Gold Limited 0.002 100% 400,000 $12,204,256 YPB YPB Group Ltd 0.002 100% 3,749,148 $790,461 KNM Kneomedia Limited 0.003 50% 137,395 $3,066,543 M2R Miramar 0.028 40% 127,282 $2,977,391 MKR Manuka Resources. 0.079 34% 2,064,565 $33,188,684 AUH Austchina Holdings 0.004 33% 6,021,716 $6,233,651 BP8 Bph Global Ltd 0.002 33% 400,800 $2,423,345 FAU First Au Ltd 0.004 33% 4,364,768 $4,985,980 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.002 33% 1,281,616 $6,376,629 CGR Cgnresourceslimited 0.185 32% 281,772 $12,708,947 NYR Nyrada Inc. 0.026 30% 124,548 $3,120,174 LRS Latin Resources Ltd 0.235 27% 26,508,407 $512,913,647 MPK Many Peaks Minerals 0.19 27% 16,705 $5,456,172 GML Gateway Mining 0.03 25% 878,308 $7,955,581 OAK Oakridge 0.075 25% 35,000 $1,055,965 92E 92Energy 0.455 25% 3,807,693 $38,826,912 SPT Splitit 0.076 21% 6,120,665 $34,863,194 CNJ Conico Ltd 0.006 20% 404,515 $7,850,475 CTO Citigold Corp Ltd 0.006 20% 210,879 $14,368,295 DGR DGR Global Ltd 0.024 20% 32,000 $20,873,870 ICG Inca Minerals Ltd 0.012 20% 64,500 $5,844,355 SKN Skin Elements Ltd 0.006 20% 297,800 $2,947,430 PPY Papyrus Australia 0.019 19% 559,381 $7,883,081 SCN Scorpion Minerals 0.045 18% 2,380,953 $15,454,835 EYE Nova EYE Medical Ltd 0.135 17% 678,033 $21,922,323

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Friday’s Small Caps highlights were:

There was a lot of microcap movement on Friday, with a number of the ASX’s smaller companies posting some healthy percentage gains – most of them without any news or definitive announcements to pin it on.

92 Energy (ASX:92E) moved well, and it definitely had news for investors, as it’s now part of a three-way takeover deal with Canadian-listed resources company ATHA.

ATHA has inked a deal with 92 Energy to snap up 100% of the company, at a whopping 78% premium to the local explorer’s closing price of recent times – shareholders are set to pocket 0.5834 ATHA shares for every 92E share held, giving an implied value of around $0.65 a pop.

It’s not the only shopping that the Canadian firm has been doing, though – it’s also buying up all of the issued and outstanding shares of Latitude Uranium, by way of a Canadian court-approved plan of arrangement.

Holista CollTech (ASX:HCT) had a grand day out too, following news that the judge overseeing the Federal Court stoush between the company and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission pulled the pin on proceedings a day earlier than expected. No decision has been announced.

Other big movers included Latin Resources (ASX:LRS), which made a mighty 21%-plus leap after revealing a 56% boost to the company’s global resource, bringing the combined total of its JORC-compliant MRE to more than 70Mt.

FRIDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap EMU EMU NL 0.001 -50% 4,250,076 $3,335,043 NZS New Zealand Coastal 0.001 -50% 256,695 $3,334,020 POD Podium Minerals 0.001 -50% 4,231,770 $161,927 MZZ Matador Mining Ltd 0.041 -34% 3,067,725 $24,444,699 AVM Advance Metals Ltd 0.002 -33% 400,000 $2,377,897 GTG Genetic Technologies 0.002 -33% 393,407 $34,624,974 T3D 333D Limited 0.004 -33% 2 $637,863 XPN Xpon Technologies 0.022 -31% 46,000 $5,072,881 CL8 Carly Holdings Ltd 0.013 -24% 742,972 $4,562,297 8IH 8I Holdings Ltd 0.017 -23% 43,279 $7,861,832 NIM Nimyresourceslimited 0.17 -23% 960,465 $30,054,838 EDE Eden Inv Ltd 0.002 -20% 205,029 $9,167,534 HLX Helix Resources 0.004 -20% 3,318,281 $11,615,729 LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.004 -20% 1,484,294 $10,116,987 NES Nelson Resources. 0.004 -20% 1,000,000 $3,067,972 NFL Norfolkmetalslimited 0.19 -17% 1,991,263 $8,124,749 BCK Brockman Mining Ltd 0.024 -17% 287,483 $269,126,732 HMD Heramed Limited 0.029 -17% 427,275 $9,782,997 NWF Newfield Resources 0.1 -17% 10,000 $105,845,669 AML Aeon Metals Ltd. 0.01 -17% 87,543 $13,156,807 RLC Reedy Lagoon Corp. 0.005 -17% 220,000 $3,700,102 SFG Seafarms Group Ltd 0.005 -17% 12,230 $29,019,595 TAS Tasman Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 40,000 $4,276,016 FXG Felix Gold Limited 0.041 -16% 39,775 $5,816,614 AHK Ark Mines Limited 0.205 -16% 77,249 $11,060,466

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