Closing Bell: Local markets end Thursday lower after volatile, silly and ultimately futile session

Trading was so fitful on the benchmark Aussie index that at 4pm in Sydney it kinda looks as if the ASX200 was in cardiac arrest for most of Thursday…

Volatile enough for ya?! Via MarketIndex

At 4.15 on Thursday December 21, the S&P/ASX200 was down 34 points, or -0.45 per cent, to 7504.

Via Google

The benchmark backtracked off Wednesday’s 11-month highs following some late profit taking in New York overnight, where the rallying Wall Street majors hit fresh record highs, before traders unwound the good work with a late fire sale.

Up early on Thursday was the tram behind the stock which bares its teeth when required – Pacific Smiles (ASX:PSQ). The board has palmed the offer from Genesis Capital saying it’s “materially undervalued”, offering instead some decent 2024 guidance – with underlying earnings expected to come in between $26mn and $28mn.

Leading thin gains across the board were the Heath Industrial and Utilities sectors aided by relatively decent runs for AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) , Steadfast (ASX:SDF), Sonic Healthcare (ASX:SHL) and Ramsay Health Care (ASX:RHC)

In the heavily weighing resources space Meridian Energy continued its daily balancing up, this time up over 4%, while the lithium lads – Allkem (ASX:AKE) , Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) and IGO (ASX:IGO) – with a guest appearance from REE lad Lynas (ASX:LYC) – were driving Mining losses.

ASX Sectors on Thursday

Via MarketIndex

At last, oil pauses

Meanwhile, WTI crude futures fell under US$74 during our session on Thursday, biding adieu to an awful six days of rising prices.

Via Tradingeconomics

Oil traders are all about the Red Sea at the moment, but probably should’ve been looking closer to home, where (fortunately for lovers of Xmas road trips) EIA data-crunchers in the states reckon US crude stockpiles jumped by 2.9 million barrels last week, mocking expectations for a 2.3 million barrel shortfall.

Apparently US crude production also leapt to a record 13.3 million barrels a day last week, up from the previous all-time high of 13.2 million bpd.

That’s taken the sting out of these Iran-backed Yemeni-Houthi attacks on merchant shipping, which has done all sorts of spannering to global trade.

And the latest on that is – aside from being scary – the impact on actual oil supply’s been negligible ‘cos the bulk of Middle East crude finds customers in the other direction, via the Strait of Hormuz.

Any which way but loose…

Trading in mainland China’s been thin, painful and largely pointless for most of the year, and it’s getting harder for punters on both the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component to make sense, let alone money.

Both were another -0.3 to -0.5% lower after lunchtime on Thursday, headed directly toward the lowest levels of 2023.

As reported by this fine publication on Wednesday, China’s extremely central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) held the equivalent of a standard benchmark lending rate unchanged, disappointing everyone including local miners who’ve been hoping for some stimmy and/or cheaper cash policies to facilitate some action and nudge China’s sonambulant economy.

There’s also reports President Xi Jinping told his US counterpart Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that, by the way, China will reunify Taiwan with the mainland, any which way…

TODAY’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 CGO CPT Global Limited 0.2 70% 468,870 $4,922,940 MTB Mount Burgess Mining 0.004 60% 453,621 $2,612,034 NYM Narryermetalslimited 0.095 53% 67,951 $2,975,602 TKL Traka Resources 0.003 50% 517,333 $1,750,659 VPR Volt Power Group 0.0015 50% 235,889 $10,716,208 FAU First Au Ltd 0.004 33% 5,029,035 $4,985,980 MCT Metalicity Limited 0.002 33% 16,229,580 $6,727,581 ME1 Melodiol Glb Health 0.002 33% 10,133,562 $7,093,236 FCT Firstwave Cloud Tech 0.04 33% 559,153 $51,287,419 TMK TMK Energy Limited 0.009 29% 3,893,100 $42,858,055 T3D 333D Limited 0.014 27% 266,985 $1,313,894 KP2 Kore Potash PLC 0.015 25% 693,107 $8,040,073 ALM Alma Metals Ltd 0.01 25% 397,056 $8,912,006 CHK Cohiba Min Ltd 0.0025 25% 621,111 $4,426,488 ERL Empire Resources 0.005 25% 1,000,000 $4,451,740 FHS Freehill Mining Ltd. 0.005 25% 11,680,700 $11,399,338 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.0025 25% 1,630,000 $2,176,231 TMX Terrain Minerals 0.005 25% 681,828 $5,413,711 WA1 Wa1Resourcesltd 12.1 24% 1,285,759 $413,340,084 ADR Adherium Ltd 0.056 24% 152,125 $15,004,799 VR8 Vanadium Resources 0.058 23% 978,138 $26,334,110 EMP Emperor Energy Ltd 0.011 22% 9,718,700 $3,010,387 KCC Kincora Copper 0.044 22% 119,892 $7,194,062 VNL Vinyl Group Ltd 0.055 22% 2,626,825 $23,153,156 AKM Aspire Mining Ltd 0.115 21% 169,466 $48,225,514

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CPT Global (ASX:CGO) is off on a mission all unto itself on Thursday. Up a casual +70%, no one knows why, least of all CGO, as revealed in this missive to the ASX speeding police this arvo:

Via ASX

An emphatic no, from CGO’s law-talking team.

Elsewhere, friend of the show and niobium hunter WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) gained 25% after revealing some positive assay results from its West Arunta project in WA.

A few weeks ago, another friend of the show, Emanuel “Tru” Datt from Datt Capital snapped up a 5.03% stake in WA1 for circa $11mn.

Loving lithium in Canada is the minnow Narryer Metals (ASX:NYM) which jumped nicely earlier today.

Fresh news? Nope. For what it’s worth, though, this time exactly a month ago…

The company completed fieldwork for the season across its three project areas – Pontax East and Le Moyne Projects (James Bay, Quebec), and the Hailstone Project, in gorgeous North West Ontario.

NYM reported that all three identified pegmatite intrusives on the ground, although geochemical analysis to determine the full nature of the mineralisation still remains TBD.

No one minds too much.

TODAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

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 NGY Nuenergy Gas Ltd 0.022 -29% 165,077 $45,909,620 MTO Motorcycle Hldg 1.85 -26% 1,638,473 $185,254,174 LSR Lodestar Minerals 0.003 -25% 200,230 $8,093,589 MEL Metgasco Ltd 0.007 -22% 33,230 $9,574,981 NFL Norfolkmetalslimited 0.18 -22% 2,390,467 $8,124,749 PHL Propell Holdings Ltd 0.012 -20% 174,233 $1,805,333 ASP Aspermont Limited 0.008 -20% 1,666,500 $24,387,637 JAY Jayride Group 0.032 -20% 87,025 $9,376,365 OEC Orbital Corp Limited 0.093 -19% 1,613,489 $16,767,774 1TT Thrive Tribe Tech 0.017 -19% 667,691 $6,229,052 ASR Asra Minerals Ltd 0.0075 -17% 3,277,625 $14,660,962 CUS Coppersearchlimited 0.1 -17% 113,170 $11,074,249 IPB IPB Petroleum Ltd 0.01 -17% 11,734,179 $6,781,469 TMR Tempus Resources Ltd 0.005 -17% 967,685 $2,070,870 GRL Godolphin Resources 0.042 -16% 23,050 $8,462,101 COY Coppermoly Limited 0.011 -15% 100,000 $9,049,761 OD6 Od6Metalsltd 0.14 -15% 36,300 $9,077,557 AZL Arizona Lithium Ltd 0.034 -15% 420,031,773 $133,780,576 RVT Richmond Vanadium 0.285 -15% 10,000 $28,879,615 AYT Austin Metals Ltd 0.006 -14% 206,810 $8,588,123 CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.006 -14% 922,833 $5,996,633 OAR OAR Resources Ltd 0.003 -14% 10,943,525 $9,243,713 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.006 -14% 16,449,950 $41,265,469 STN Saturn Metals 0.155 -14% 56,254 $40,159,477 JNO Juno 0.1 -13% 4,900 $20,923,705

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TRADING HALTS

Peppermint Innovation (ASX:PIL) – Pending an important announcement to be made regarding the acquisition of an Artificial intelligence (AI) and Customer Experience (CX) business by the Company

Tietto Minerals (ASX:TIE) – Pending the removal of an ASX release that was lodged in error

Invictus Energy (ASX:IVZ) – In relation to a capital raising

Australian Pacific Coal (ASX:AQC) – In relation to a capital raising

XPON Technologies (ASX:XPN) – In connection with the proposed disposal of a material business

Mamba Exploration (ASX:M24) pending an announcement regarding an acquisition and capital raising

Frugl Group (ASX:FGL) – Pending an announcement in relation to the outcome of a placement to sophisticated and professional investors

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