Closing Bell: ASX200 flat and earthbound as Nyrada CEO exclusively shares 3 reasons for stunning +420pc session

Local markets end hopelessly, slightly lower
IT sector surges 2.9%
Small Caps led by incredible Nyrada outperformance

Despite a return to form for lithium and a stunning 420% rally for little local drugmaker Nyrada, the ASX200 was the little index that just couldn’t on an action-packed, fun-filled Wednesday in Sydney.

At 4.15pm on February 28, the S&P/ASX200 was down 2.5 points or 0.034% to 7,654…

Via Google

What an odd day. So much great stuff to discuss.

But, most importantly the man behind the super-heroic Aussie small cap, drug discovery and development company Nyrada (ASX:NYR) CEO James Bonnar, explained to Stockhead just a few of the reasons behind the company’s extraordinary outperformance on Thursday.

For those still searching the skies for traces of Nyrada as it leaves the ionosphere… NYR earlier today released new data from it’s brain injury drug candidate (NYR-BI03) and has since lapped local markets and continued ever skywards.

A picture perhaps does the scene more justice:

Via Google

“The results from our stroke study are powerful for three reasons,” James told Stockhead on Wednesday arvo.

“Firstly, the drug candidate is a first-in-class molecule which means it offers a new therapeutic approach to treating brain injury.

“Secondly, the pathology behind brain injury is common across both stroke and traumatic brain injuries, such as those caused by a car accident, sports injury or military wound. This means our drug candidate has potential for treating patients in two important markets: stroke and traumatic brain injury.

“Lastly, the target our drug candidate hits is novel, making Nyrada pioneers in an area that no other biotech is currently working in, to our knowledge.”

And that, lads and ladies, is why small caps are best.

Lithium is lit…

It’s been a while since we’ve seen lithium stocks jump out of the blocks like that.

Lithium futures in Guangzhou were up more than 1% higher when business clocked off in Sydney on Tuesday.

By 8:00am our time, lithium futures in those same Chinese markets ended 3.5% higher to 106,650 yuan, the toppiest watermark for the battery metal in China since 2023.

Local lithium stocks spent the morning putting on their money pants and collecting the difference with some familiar small caps heading into lunch at terrific differentials.

Large caps like IGO (ASX:IGO) and Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumped around 5%, while Piedmont Lithium (ASX:PLL) +10.5%, Galan Lithium (ASX:GLN) +10%, Arizona Lithium (ASX:AZL) +8.25% – all went into lunch major beneficiaries.

Those gains have come off a little as Chinese lithium futures opened less crazy this afternoon, but it’s still been a welcome return to form for fans of the sector.

Via Google

Of course, Core Lithium missed out again because you will not find justice in money markets, someone said.

The Materials sector was up almost 0.5% lifted by the battery metals gains which offset the global weakness in iron ore – those prices are at near 3-month lows – but the entire sector has come into the close of trade in the red.

Via MarketIndex

Not even the Dougie Bollinger bands could save this sector from a haircut.

Meanwhile in Aussie tech…

Not worried about any of that is the local IT sector which has jumped almost 3% today, driven by the promise of lower rates, sooner and a return of love for growth stocks.

Also lending a hand is sector biggie NextDC (ASX:NXT) where the stock price has clocked a sneaky all-time high, after dropping a 1H loss larger than this time last year to the power of 1o to -$22.5m.

Yes a tenfold increase in first half losses, although investors seem more pumped that revenue is up by almost a full third to $209.1mn, as the data centre maker reports it’s well on track to hit FY revenue guidance ($400mn to $415mm).

The ASX XIJ: It’s been a good year already…

Via MarketIndex

Local markets reacted in curious ways to the happier-than-hoped-for domestic inflation figures.

Certainly the Pacific Peso (AUD) didn’t dig it. The Aussie fell to around $0.65, slapping head long into near 1-month lows.

The ABS-borne January inflation data described a CPI holding pretty comfy at a two-year low of 3.4%, same-as from December and coming in a wee bit below forecasts of 3.6%.

Core inflation – with the volatile things like petrol stripped out – was also steady, which is good news too.

If you’d care for some detail, Westpac has unpacked it all here:

Traders who’ve been betting madly on the timing of central bank rate cuts are scrambling back to last week’s RBA minutes of which they’ll recall involved Gov M. Bullock and her mates actually pondering a rate rise.

That said, Westpac also has a great squiggly line indicator I also like…

The RBA also says it needs “more time to be confident that inflation is heading back to its target” before ruling out any further rate increase.

This January read will do its bit in that regard.

So. Local markets were facing an uphill battle with mixed leads, weak iron ore and a good bunch of major names going ex-div on Thursday.

ASX Ex-Divs on Wednesday

Bell Financial Group (ASX:BFG) is paying 4 cents fully franked
Beach Energy (ASX:BPT) is paying 2 cents fully franked
ECP Emerging Growth (ASX:ECP) is paying 2.3 cents fully franked
EVT Limited (ASX:EVT) is paying 14 cents fully franked
Fortescue Ltd (ASX:FMG) is paying 108 cents fully franked
Gryphon Capital (ASX:GCI) is paying 1.4 cents unfranked
Mitchell Services (ASX:MSV) is paying 2 cents unfranked
Maxiparts Limited (ASX:MXI) is paying 2.57 cents fully franked
MyState Limited (ASX:MYS) is paying 11.5 cents fully franked
Ooh!Media Limited (ASX:OML) is paying 3.5 cents fully franked
Perpetual Cred Trust (ASX:PCI) is paying 0.6395 cents unfranked
360 Capital Mortgage (ASX:TCF) is paying 3.5 cents unfranked
The Lottery Corp (ASX:TLC) is paying 8 cents fully franked
Telstra Group (ASX:TLS) is paying 9 cents fully franked
Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX:WOW) is paying 47 cents fully franked

ASX Sectors on Wednesday

Around the ‘hood…

Tokyo markets have paused for a sec with the Nikkei 225 Index lower at lunch while the broader Topix Index looked almost flat (but not quite, ahead 0.1% to 2,681) in mixed trade at lunch on Wednesday.

Japanese shares may actually be consolidating the gains after this historic rally that brought the Nikkei to all-time highs last week.

Meanwhile, they’re doing the 24/25 budget in Hong Kong on Wednesday and the city’s finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po has come out with the only trump card he’s got left – Honkers, he says, will remove ALL restrictions on property purchases as part of the Beijing-endorsed government’s solution to Hong Kong’s own economic and property crisis.

Hong Kong’s economy has been a tepid mess of late while the city’s shrinking fiscal reserves are compounding the Hang Seng’s fall from grace as a key gateway into Chinese stocks.

Mainland markets are resting for a breather at near 3-month highs at around lunchtime in Shanghai, buoyed by following a drip-feed of pro-market measures to revive equities and boost investor confidence.

Beleaguered investors will have to hope that there’ll be something a little extra for markets at the upcoming National People’s Congress which kicks off on March 5.

US Markets…

US stocks held near their record levels after a quiet day of trading.

The S&P 500 added 0.2 per cent, to 5,078.18 and is just off its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones dipped 0.25 per cent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4 per cent.

ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap W2V Way2Vatltd 0.032 60% 132,081,482 $13,032,169 EXL Elixinol Wellness 0.009 50% 2,377,022 $3,797,230 AVW Avira Resources Ltd 0.0015 50% 150,285 $2,133,790 RKT Rocketdna Ltd 0.01 43% 47,769,028 $4,592,804 BP8 BPH Global Ltd 0.002 33% 167,999 $2,931,174 AHK Ark Mines Limited 0.2 33% 105,902 $8,316,962 PL3 Patagonia Lithium 0.17 31% 235,497 $6,386,705 LSA Lachlan Star Ltd 0.052 30% 981,979 $8,302,928 BVS Bravura Solution Ltd 1.245 30% 7,928,441 $430,419,842 OSL Oncosil Medical 0.009 29% 1,212,315 $13,821,788 SKN Skin Elements Ltd 0.005 25% 311,471 $2,357,944 ZEO Zeotech Limited 0.031 24% 824,895 $43,335,577 INV Investsmart Group 0.155 24% 5,000 $17,835,061 COY Coppermoly Limited 0.011 22% 90,394 $6,265,219 WCN White Cliff Min Ltd 0.017 21% 8,775,065 $18,702,031 TTM Titan Minerals 0.023 21% 3,390,284 $32,221,079 MOZ Mosaic Brands Ltd 0.205 21% 194,260 $30,346,095 AYT Austin Metals Ltd 0.006 20% 655 $6,425,957 CHK Cohiba Min Ltd 0.003 20% 11,322,357 $6,325,575 HIQ Hitiq Limited 0.025 19% 27,743 $7,388,744 PKD Parkd Ltd 0.025 19% 507,094 $2,184,292 STP Step One Limited 1.45 19% 1,388,326 $226,115,155 XF1 Xref Limited 0.13 18% 106,430 $20,479,392 PXX Polarx Limited 0.013 18% 6,947,947 $18,035,785 MTM MTM Critical Metals 0.092 18% 7,011,913 $9,695,116

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Strap in for some detail, because just mauling markets like an incensed bull shark of no fixed address is the suddenly punchy Aussie drug discovery and development company Nyrada (ASX:NYR).

Nyrada’s lead Brain Injury Program drug candidate NYR-BI03 – “a first-in-class therapy with a novel mechanism of action targeting significant market opportunity” – demonstrated strong efficacy in reducing injury in a preclinical study, the company has reported.

NYR specialises in novel small molecule therapeutics to treat neurological and cardiovascular diseases. As well as jumping almost 380% on a brief update dropped on the ASX some 5 hours ago.

The stock is soaring on some real positive results from NYR’s preclinical study evaluating the efficacy of its Brain Injury Program drug candidate NYR-BI03.

That might be worth writing down: NYR-BI03.

Supporting NYR-BI03’s favourable safety profile, the current study had no drug-related adverse effects.

The collaboration with UNSW, the company induced “a focal ischemic stroke using a photothrombotic model” – basically, they brain injured 16 test animals (but in a minimally invasive way) and then treated with either NYR-BI03 or a placebo (vehicle) 30 mins after the induced brain injury.

The treatment went for 72 hours via continuous intravenous infusion while MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans quantified the brain injuries.

“These MRI data determined tissue damage in the penumbra region, the area of secondary brain injury that the NYR-BI03 neuroprotection drug targets,” the company says.

These analyses were performed blinded – ie: where the experimenter didn’t know if a particular animal received NYR-BI03 or vehicle.

“The MRI brain imaging showed that a statistically significant neuroprotection was achieved when animals received NYR-BI03 treatment.

“On average, NYR-BI03 therapy rescued 42% of the brain injury in the penumbra region seen in animals receiving vehicle,” the company told the ASX.

Nyrada CEO James Bonnar says the study results are very big for NYR’s Brain Injury program.

“These study results mark a significant milestone in our Brain Injury program, providing strong evidence that our drug candidate NYR-BI03 has the potential to protect the brain from secondary injury. The magnitude of rescue achieved in this study is a compelling outcome and signals a significant therapeutic and market opportunity.

“This work is critical for our development pathway for NYR-BI03, giving us confidence as we advance it through to GLP safety and toxicology studies ahead of a first-in-human clinical trial currently planned to commence in the second half of this calendar year.”

The company reported 1H last week and this is where they were then with the program, so progress is afoot:

Via ASX

Making big moves this arvo is the everywhere-listed EcoGraf (ASX:EGR) after reporting positive findings from a research program completed by the Helmholtz Institute in Germany, where EcoGraf ‘s proprietary processing technology has been used to purify graphite particles recovered from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries.

EcoGraf purified the recovered graphite particles to battery grade specification.

The German Government funded program then compared the electrochemical performance of (the recycled) EcoGraf HFfree graphite with a number of commercial battery graphite products. And there was much rejoicing.

The company says further research is required before anyone sells the house.

Finally, 5E Advanced Materials (ASX:5EA) is still killing it on Wednesday.

ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Today’s best performing small cap stocks:

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

Code Company Price % Volume Market Cap RBR RBR Group Ltd 0.002 -33% 110 $4,855,214 STX Strike Energy Ltd 0.215 -26% 69,221,034 $830,045,499 TKL Traka Resources 0.0015 -25% 250,000 $3,501,317 ADR Adherium Ltd 0.043 -22% 85,887 $18,339,199 AXN Alliance Nickel Ltd 0.036 -20% 587,539 $32,662,783 ATH Alterity Therapeutics 0.004 -20% 400,196 $21,913,774 CAV Carnavale Resources 0.004 -20% 12,537,500 $17,117,759 CNJ Conico Ltd 0.002 -20% 400,000 $3,925,237 IEC Intra Energy Corp 0.002 -20% 100,000 $4,226,954 PRX Prodigy Gold NL 0.004 -20% 3,326,102 $8,755,539 PUR Pursuit Minerals 0.004 -20% 150,323 $14,719,857 RDS Redstone Resources 0.004 -20% 200,000 $4,626,892 RMX Red Mount Min Ltd 0.002 -20% 2,611,228 $6,683,940 VML Vital Metals Limited 0.004 -20% 6,660 $29,475,335 SGR The Star Entertainment Group 0.45 -20% 133,580,546 $1,606,461,291 HUM Humm Group Limited 0.56 -19% 5,008,926 $353,184,666 HAL Halo Technologies 0.11 -19% 61,536 $17,481,854 ASV Asset Vision Company 0.015 -17% 1,937,297 $13,065,058 FTC Fintech Chain Ltd 0.015 -17% 48,964 $11,713,853 BMO Bastion Minerals 0.01 -17% 6,397,167 $3,737,329 ECT Env Clean Tech Ltd. 0.005 -17% 253,915 $17,185,862 LRL Labyrinth Resources 0.005 -17% 238,200 $7,125,262 MSI Multistack International 0.005 -17% 2,929 $817,824 NSM Northstaw 0.04 -17% 4,000 $6,714,038

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ICYMI – PM Edition

Azure Minerals (ASX:ASZ) has confirmed all competition law approvals for its joint takeover by SQM and Hancock Prospecting (now officially known as SH Mining) have been obtained, meaning a significant chunk of the conditions precedent for the high-profile transaction are now satisfied.

The proposed takeover still remains subject to a number of other conditions which need to be satisfied or waived before SH Mining can take control of Azure and the amazing Andover lithium discovery in the Pilbara.

Azure’s board continues to unanimously recommend SH Mining’s cash offer of $3.70/share.

Kula Gold (ASX:KGD) is raising $400,000 via a placement to undertake “low-cost, high value-add” exploration over its Marvel Loch project in the Southern Cross Goldfields of Western Australia.

The company’s directors are contributing $86,000 towards the 0.8c/share placement, which remains subject to shareholder approval.

Anson Resources (ASX:ASN) has begun the “surface” phase of drilling at its Green River lithium project in Utah, having completed the “conductor” phase down to a depth of 80ft.

This “surface” phase involves drilling down to 1,500ft at the Bosydaba #1 well targeting the lithium-rich brines in the Clastic horizons and the Mississippian units. The well is located on a recently purchased private property in the Paradox Basin.

Anson says it designed the drilling program such that there is no interaction between the surface waters and the supersaturated lithium brines.

Eagle Mountain Mining (ASX:EM2) has exercised a right of first refusal to purchase a strategically located private patented claim that sits between the Oracle Ridge copper mine and tailings storage facility.

The company says the acquisition of the ~15 acre Cochise patented claim is critical to the longevity of its operations at Oracle Ridge in Arizona, with the existing access lease set to expire in 2036.

It also notes that ownership of this claim presents opportunities to locate future infrastructure such as a mine camp or processing facilities, as well as drill sites targeting the Golden Eagle and OREX mineral systems.