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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 23 January, 2024 – a date on the calendar that’s of great significance to certain Podcast Enthusiasts, as it was on this day that the discovery of a dead woman in 1897 sparked a series of events best described as the ultimate in paranormal/true crime podcast fodder.

In 1897, a farmer by the name of Erasmus Stribbling Trout Shue – no, really – sent a young farm worker up to the house to ask his wife, Elva Zona Heaster Shue, if she required anything from the markets in town.

The young boy found, to his horror, that Elva was dead – and despite the best efforts of the local doctor – appeared very likely to stay that way for quite some time.

After a short while, Erasmus insisted the doctor stop trying to wake her up, had his now clearly deceased wife dressed in a lovely frock (with a stout collar surrounding her neck) before the body was carted into town and the poor woman buried.

Here’s where it gets weird. Erasmus came under a fairly powerful scrutiny from the local authorities, after the mother of the deceased woman, Mary J. Heaster, claimed that she had been visited by the ghost of her dead daughter, and that something about the young woman’s death wasn’t right.

Erasmus’ former mother-in-law claimed that, during the dream, the dead woman said words to the effect of “her neck was squeezed off at the first joint”.

That, for some unfathomable reason, was enough to spark an investigation that included digging up the recently buried corpse to have a quick squiz to see if the ghost of the murdered woman was telling the truth.

Turns out, the answer was ‘yep, kind of’ – a proper examination of the body revealed that Ezra had indeed been strangled.

Erasmus was tried and convicted of murder – all down to ‘evidence’ given by a ghost, the first and thankfully the last such occurrence in US legal history.

He was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, but only spent three years behind bars before he cheated justice – by conveniently dying of the flu.

The good news is that you don’t need to rely on words from beyond the grave in order to make the calls you need to make today while you’re navigating the ASX – because our team here at Stockhead is (last time I checked) alive and well, and writing up a storm.

Today’s efforts include Eddy’s look at which brokers are talking up which stocks with upgrades, and Reuben’s got Sprott’s 2024 predictions for uranium, copper, gold AND silver. Phwoar! Now that’s hot.

Plus, down below, there’s all the usual bite-sized bits of highly nutritious, protein-rich market data for you to slowly digest, while the ASX rodeo clowns get the chairs and tables set up for the start of the week.

(It’s also a special day because it’s my old man’s birthday… Happy 81st, dad!)

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,023.60 (-0.50%)

Silver: US$22.34 (-1.15%)

Nickel (3mth): US$15,934.00/t (+0.40%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,271.61/t (+1.02%)

Oil (WTI): US$72.98 (-0.72%)

Oil (Brent): US$78.28 (-0.46%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$135.88/t (-0.15%)

AUD/USD: 0.6586 (-0.09%)

Bitcoin: US$41,101.10 (-1.09%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

So… you might have heard that lithium prices aren’t doing so well. But in case you missed the memo, this edition of Groundbreakers has you covered.

#Lithium and #nickel prices fall further. https://t.co/Yq0PKrMfb5

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) January 22, 2024

YESTERDAY’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 ZIP ZIP Co Ltd 0.74 17% 58,118,771 $639,460,418 PNV Polynovo Limited 1.71 8% 2,610,942 $1,094,018,910 A2M The A2 Milk Company 4.58 6% 4,128,748 $3,123,078,371 360 Life360 Inc. 7.44 5% 445,109 $1,453,763,854 IEL Idp Education Ltd 21.92 4% 1,023,627 $5,845,060,431 BGA Bega Cheese Ltd 3.72 4% 701,160 $1,087,128,457 SGR The Star Ent Grp 0.51 4% 5,263,488 $1,405,653,630 MGH Maas Group Holdings 3.85 4% 177,104 $1,216,599,157 AWC Alumina Limited 1.045 4% 7,341,931 $2,916,189,824 QAL Qualitaslimited 2.38 3% 26,760 $686,078,693 SQ2 Block 101.295 3% 76,597 $3,426,906,430 OCL Objective Corp 12.45 3% 20,540 $1,147,266,233 AUB AUB Group Ltd 29.63 3% 98,382 $3,113,409,406 MAF MA Financial Group 5.735 3% 214,427 $991,524,869 GNE Genesis Energy Ltd 2.37 3% 23,243 $2,471,672,646 SDF Steadfast Group Ltd 5.78 3% 2,338,542 $6,206,290,687 PWH Power Holdings Limited 10.13 3% 118,680 $989,768,690 CCP Credit Corp Group 16.61 3% 151,134 $1,100,641,062 ALL Aristocrat Leisure 43.74 3% 873,348 $27,417,428,714 HPI Hotel Property 2.82 3% 173,674 $536,736,291 BKW Brickworks Limited 28.465 2% 131,387 $4,234,507,206 HM1 Hearts and Minds 2.53 2% 320,848 $565,141,977 PRU Perseus Mining Ltd 1.79 2% 2,031,798 $2,403,736,923 HLS Healius 1.355 2% 1,397,707 $962,038,832 DTL Data#3 Limited 9.32 2% 299,337 $1,410,901,064

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Yesterday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Resource Mining Corporation (ASX:RMI) made early gound, climbing about 30% with gains most likely being driven by a sluggish market response to its news from last week about assay results from the Liparamba diamond drill program in Tanzania.

Resource told the market on 17 January that drilling had uncovered anomalous Ni-Cu values within a number of the drill holes, with 0.35-0.40% Ni and 0.20-0.23% Cu sulphide mineralisation occurring at 133-135m in hole LPDD009 among the highlights.

Also appearing to move belatedly was New Zealand King Salmon (ASX:NZK), staging a recovery from sharp end-of-the-week losses, on the heels of news that the company has received notice of a positive ‘aquaculture decision’ for Blue Endeavour from Fisheries New Zealand – which, in short, means that the project can go ahead.

RAS Technology Holdings (ASX:) had big news, revealing that it’s entered into a partnership with global online casino and sportsbook Stake.com, which will see RTH provide an all-in-one “racing solution” to enable them to launch a racing offering to their extensive global customer base.

PharmAust (ASX:PAA) climbed well, too, as the market continued to digest its big news from last week that the company has partnered with leading MND/ALS clinical study design and statistical analysis specialists Berry Consultants, to get its Phase 2/3 study for monepantel in patients with Motor Neurone Disease (MND)/ Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) off the ground.

Dateline Resources (ASX:DTR) informed the market that drilling is well underway at the company’s Colosseum Gold Mine in California, with the first hole now complete, which should allow Dateline to test down plunge extensions previous exploratory hole CM23-08, as well as test a revised sedimentary breccia model at the site.

YESTERDAY’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 LTR Liontown Resources 0.95 -21% 51,470,468 $2,894,271,782 WC8 Wildcat Resources 0.415 -17% 12,774,462 $597,919,062 LRS Latin Resources Ltd 0.17 -15% 28,694,601 $559,251,240 MIN Mineral Resources. 52.85 -9% 2,137,905 $11,350,090,788 DVP Develop Global Ltd 1.905 -8% 1,844,221 $502,292,913 LTM Arcadium Lithium PLC 7.5 -7% 1,992,063 $4,389,732,892 ERA Energy Resources 0.064 -7% 816,113 $1,528,232,644 JDO Judo Cap Holdings 0.93 -6% 2,169,890 $1,098,207,825 BLX Beacon Lighting Grp 2.39 -6% 64,446 $571,748,383 DYL Deep Yellow Limited 1.3975 -5% 3,636,802 $1,127,558,562 PLS Pilbara Min Ltd 3.3 -5% 27,225,130 $10,442,853,769 BMN Bannerman Energy Ltd 3.45 -4% 512,853 $551,755,180 MCY Mercury NZ Limited 5.98 -4% 1,253 $8,695,170,244 LOT Lotus Resources Ltd 0.31 -5% 5,700,794 $562,422,542 PRN Perenti Limited 0.875 -4% 1,545,461 $874,855,520 IMD Imdex Limited 1.645 -4% 695,969 $873,034,399 SLX Silex Systems 4.74 -4% 315,976 $1,160,854,689 MEZ Meridian Energy 5.03 -3% 37,482 $6,570,927,013 IGO IGO Limited 6.98 -3% 5,209,321 $5,452,328,254 PDN Paladin Energy Ltd 1.1925 -3% 15,661,828 $3,669,551,906 MAD Mader Group Limited 6.895 -3% 39,563 $1,422,000,000 NXL Nuix Limited 1.605 -3% 363,837 $532,190,720 NIC Nickel Industries 0.5675 -3% 8,137,904 $2,507,198,780 APM APM Human Services 0.7425 -3% 4,869,909 $701,644,189 PTM Platinum Asset 1.195 -3% 509,626 $716,065,553

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TRADING HALTS

Spenda (ASX:SPX) – pending an announcement in relation to the proposed investment in the Company by Capricorn Society.

NGX (ASX:NGX) – pending an announcement regarding an update on the transfer of the Malingunde licence in Malawi.

Freehill Mining (ASX:FHS) – pending release of an announcement regarding a capital raising and the acquisition of material processing plant and equipment to facilitate project expansion.

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