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

Good morning everyone, and welcome to 29 January, 2024 – a date on the calendar to be celebrated by lovers of The Arts, as it is believed that on this day in 1597, a small play called Romeo and Juliet had its first public performance.

That performance is likely to have been something of a sneak preview showing of Shakespeare’s 10th play – the official launch of the play took place a couple of years later, but it was one that struck a chord with audiences, in a way that only an over-wrought drama about a pair of suicidal teenagers could.

Written in an era where it was entirely cool for a 17-year-old lad to be simping to tragic levels after a 13-year-old girl, the story itself is often remembered as one of the greatest love stories ever told.

The harsh reality of it, however, is that it is a dark and horrifying story that ends with two children dead and two large families utterly heartbroken, all over a ridiculous feud that ran full tilt into a rampaging ball of hormones, to the detriment of anybody within spitting distance of the action.

The fact that the story is remembered for being something it clearly isn’t meant to, is a testament to the very human ability to cast bad memories aside, and collectively, willingly recall an entirely different reality than the one we all just lived through.

The same thing that has a lot of people pining for the 1990s as a time of wonder and easy living, when even the shortest backward glance at those years will reveal a dark, twisted history of long greasy hair, regrettable tattoos and way too many flannel shirts.

But, given the passage of enough time and just about anything – like Romeo and Juliet – will start to look a lot better than it really was.

Luckily, in the modern era, we will always have Baz Luhrmann’s bloated and self-indulgent efforts to bring Shakespeare’s tale to the big screen, as a permanent reminder that no matter how sad and sorry Shakespeare’s work was when he wrote this particular play, there will always be a way to magically make it a thousand times worse.

Anyway – I’m rambling, and we’ve all got better things to do be doing this morning, so allow me to point you at Eddy Sunarto’s Hot Money Monday for a look at what’s in store this week, while Josh Chiat got former PLS and now new Patriot Battery Metals CEO Ken Brinsden on the blower about what’s actually going on with this lithium collapse thing.

And, as always down below, there’s all the usual numbers and letters, all lovingly arranged in such a fashion that they make sense to our those who just love to watch the market, to help us all get ready for the next wave of losses and gains that come washing our way today.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: US$2,018.71 (-0.07%)

Silver: US$22.794 (-0.51%)

Nickel (3mth): US$15,469.00/t (+0.32%)

Copper (3mth): US$8,446.15/t (-0.37%)

Oil (WTI): US$78.01 (+0.84%)

Oil (Brent): US$83.66 (+1.49%)

Iron 62pc Fe: US$137.50/t (+1.10%)

AUD/USD: 0.6574 (+0.09%)

Bitcoin: US$42,545.90 (+1.10%)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

India is setting itself up to emerge as a proper economic powerhouse, so here’s Part 1 of Nadine McGrath’s look into which India-focussed ASX players are making some serious moves right now.

‘India is where China was in 2006’ – Here are Banyantree’s top three India-focused stocks – @BanyantreeIG is bullish on India and tell us their top three stock picks for the emerging market in 2024. #markets #India https://t.co/MXcgGOM8CK pic.twitter.com/675H0VLJ5N

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) January 25, 2024

THURSDAY’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 NRZ Neurizer Ltd 0.014 100% 20,911,108 $9,645,620 DXN DXN Limited 0.0015 50% 705,538 $2,153,340 EVG Evion Group NL 0.032 33% 1,568,543 $8,303,020 JAV Javelin Minerals Ltd 0.002 33% 1,000,000 $2,450,593 MRD Mount Ridley Mines 0.002 33% 618,116 $11,677,324 PHL Propell Holdings Ltd 0.013 30% 128,576 $1,203,555 ICR Intelicare Holdings 0.018 29% 99,311 $3,287,543 CST Castile Resources 0.09 29% 343,719 $16,933,170 CUF Cufe Ltd 0.019 27% 3,361,573 $17,191,685 CHK Cohiba Min Ltd 0.0025 25% 500,000 $5,060,460 EXT Excite Technology 0.01 25% 5,692,851 $10,633,934 NKL Nickelx Ltd 0.04 25% 484,545 $2,810,085 W2V Way2Vat Ltd 0.011 22% 333,173 $5,864,476 ACW Actinogen Medical 0.029 21% 11,530,268 $55,375,442 KNM Kneomedia Limited 0.003 20% 102,638 $3,833,178 M4M Macro Metals Limited 0.003 20% 3,708,000 $6,167,694 CCM Cadoux Limited 0.065 18% 65,741 $20,158,467 BTH Bigtincan Holdings Ltd 0.23 18% 2,854,638 $120,169,353 MOM Moab Minerals Ltd 0.007 17% 654,950 $4,271,781 VAL Valor Resources Ltd 0.0035 17% 1,592,095 $12,520,004 NGX NGX Limited 0.15 15% 148,974 $11,779,539 AHF Aust Dairy Limited 0.015 15% 1,335,700 $8,402,768 FRB Firebird Metals 0.115 15% 49,160 $14,236,140 PMT Patriot Battery Metals 0.85 15% 6,547,560 $372,960,118 SSL Sietel Limited 9.2 15% 5,000 $64,219,982

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Thursday’s Small Cap Winners included:

Up the pointy end of the Small Caps was Neurizer (ASX:NRZ), showing a 100% jump after some to-ing and fro-ing with the ASX over disclosures by the company in the lead-up to it releasing its quarterly and Appendix 5B on 18 January.

It’s all very complicated and I don’t have the time to completely unpack it here, but the short version is that there have been some legislative and oversight changes affecting the Neurizer Urea Project, which in turn has had a knock-on effect on investment negotiations for NRZ.

The company has assured the ASX that it is solvent, and working through other potential investment options to keep the project on track.

Elsewhere, CuFe (ASX:CUF) jumped 33% this morning despite having nought to report, most likely on the back of renewed enthusiasm for copper among local investors.

Similarly, Castile Resources (ASX:CST) has been all over the joint – up more than 28% after shedding 18% in recent sessions, itself a major step down from the 27% spike the company enjoyed between Friday and COB Monday.

Black Mountain Energy (ASX:BME) has posted a decent gain off the back of a crowd-pleasing quarterly that includes a little tidbit about the company’s divestment of its Half Moon project, which has brought in a pre-tax windfall of US$6,577,810.

Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW) enjoyed a solid run through the day, off the back of earlier news that a human Positron Emission Tomography (PET) study, confirming high levels of the company’s Xanamem target occupancy in the brain at safe, well tolerated, and biologically active doses, has been published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

The company says the study confirms that Xanamem is a brain-penetrant inhibitor of the tissue cortisol synthesis enzyme, 11β-HSD1, with high levels of target occupancy at doses as low as 5mg – which is, I am assured, a Good Thing.

THURSDAY’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 AVW Avira Resources Ltd 0.001 -50% 12,250,000 $4,267,580 DCX Discovex Res Ltd 0.001 -33% 200,000 $4,953,852 NGY Nuenergy Gas Ltd 0.027 -31% 225,373 $57,757,264 DMP Domino Pizza Enterprises 40.08 -30% 2,812,706 $5,146,337,960 MEM Memphasys Ltd 0.01 -29% 19,503,304 $18,814,022 MHC Manhattan Corp Ltd 0.003 -25% 4,212,812 $11,747,919 HTA Hutchison 0.024 -23% 950,881 $420,747,766 DGR DGR Global Ltd 0.014 -22% 775,092 $18,786,483 SUM Summit Minerals 0.074 -20% 1,528,675 $4,384,456 ACM Aus Critical Mineral 0.098 -18% 130,407 $3,849,150 SGC Sacgasco Ltd 0.009 -18% 864,496 $8,576,558 KNB Koonenberry Gold 0.0615 -18% 626,796 $8,981,182 ZEO Zeotech Limited 0.029 -17% 5,460,949 $60,669,807 AHN Athena Resources 0.0025 -17% 11,157 $3,211,403 CRB Carbine Resources 0.005 -17% 600,000 $3,310,427 MGU Magnum Mining & Exp 0.02 -17% 3,991,743 $19,424,674 NOX Noxopharm Limited 0.065 -17% 110,846 $22,794,560 PUA Peak Minerals Ltd 0.0025 -17% 20,000 $3,124,130 RMX Red Mount Min Ltd 0.0025 -17% 3,463,333 $8,020,728 TREDA Toubani Resources 0.13 -16% 186,016 $20,749,178 EME Energy Metals Ltd 0.16 -16% 167,296 $39,839,829 BEO Beonic Ltd 0.027 -16% 266,276 $13,583,838 ASP Aspermont Limited 0.006 -14% 1,400,000 $17,071,346 LNR Lanthanein Resources 0.006 -14% 1,594,683 $9,028,683 OSL Oncosil Medical 0.006 -14% 9,254,036 $13,821,788

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