Local markets are smashing it this morning, with the ASX 200 benchmark up 1.15% by midday and the goldies extending their gains from last week as the market price for the shiny metal continued to surge this morning.<\/p>\n
In a bit of a \u201cstop press\u201d moment, I\u2019ve just had an alert from a leading expert<\/a> that gold has pushed through US$2,100 per ounce as demand from Asian markets this morning has hit fever pitch, which is all terribly exciting.<\/p>\n It also follows on from a pretty decent end to the week in New York on Friday, which saw Wall Street\u2019s major indices close higher with a distinctly positive vibe in the air.<\/p>\n But\u2026 then there\u2019s this:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This rally reminds me of some of the great 1980s and 1990s rallies where rates would go down and stocks would soar. I am not sure people realize how truly powerful this rally is. It is extraordinary\u2026<\/p>\n \u2014 Jim Cramer (@jimcramer) December 1, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If Cramer\u2019s calling it, then you know that it doesn\u2019t matter what you want to call this rally, or why it\u2019s happening \u2013\u00a0but you can pretty much bank on it turning to sawdust now that CNBC\u2019s resident 1,000-year-old infant is reminiscing about decades long gone.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll get into the market stuff shortly, but first there\u2019s a lesson to be learned from the story of a senior government official in Paraguay, who has been forced to resign after signing his country up to a memorandum of cooperation with a country that doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n Arnaldo Chamorro is \u2013 or rather, was \u2013 chief of staff to Carlos Alcibiades Gim\u00e9nez D\u00edaz, Paraguay\u2019s agriculture minister, and had been tasked with meeting a delegation of representatives from the \u201cUnited States of Kailasa\u201d.<\/p>\n Chamorro has admitted that he took the meeting, listened to what I can only assume were some very persuasive presentations \u2013\u00a0resulting in an official document proclaiming that the government of Paraguay should do everything it can to establish full diplomatic relations with the United States of Kailasa and \u201csupport its admission as a sovereign state to various international organisations, including the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n The document also specifically salutes \u201cthe honourable Nithyananda Paramashivam, sovereign of the United States of Kailasa\u201d and praises his \u201ccontributions to Hinduism, humanity and the Republic of Paraguay.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from the small problem that the United States of Kailasa isn\u2019t a real thing, it turns out that its leader, is none other than Nithyananda Paramashivam.<\/p>\n For those of you who are out of the loop when it comes to the who\u2019s who of cult leaders, Paramashivam is a self-proclaimed \u201cSupreme Pontiff of Hinduism\u201d who is doing his darndest to get his entirely made-up country recognised by as many governments around the world as he can.<\/p>\n Which sounds like a fool\u2019s errand, but apparently it\u2019s going quite well \u2013 if Kailasa\u2019s official website is to be believed, the Paraguayan ministry of agriculture is only the latest government body to be fooled.<\/p>\n Paramashivam claims to have received \u201c114 proclamations and congressional certificates of recognitions from government leaders across 11 countries\u201d \u2013\u00a0but it\u2019s still an unfathomably terrible mistake for the Paraguayan official to have made.<\/p>\n Even the most cursory Google search of the country\u2019s name turns up some alarming results \u2013 Paramashivam is wanted for questioning on the usual raft of cult leader crimes, including rape and child abuse allegations.<\/p>\n If only he\u2019d been more like Cramer, and done his due diligence before spouting off about how great everything is\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a far happier day for local investors this morning, with the benchmark up and the lion\u2019s share of our market sectors pumping out some very handy gains indeed.<\/p>\n Leading the way are some very strong performances among InfoTech, Real Estate and the Materials sector, each of them well into positive territory this morning.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Chart via Marketindex.com.au<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And at a more granular level, there is plenty of excitement among the goldies, which has pushed the XGD All Ords Gold Index out to +3.5% this morning, well ahead of the benchmark which is hovering around +1.15% so far today.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all down to the price of gold, which broke through US$2,100 this morning, and not showing any immediate signs of slowing down, leaving the locally-listed stocks with exposure to gold in a very happy place indeed.<\/p>\n One shining example today is Chalice, which is showing a +16% climb this morning, despite not having any solid news to report since early last week.<\/p>\n The other boost to positive sentiment locally is the market\u2019s expectations that the RBA is highly likely to keep interest rates on hold when the board meets for its monthly dive into the lunch trough tomorrow.<\/p>\n As resident economics guru Earlybird Eddy Sunarto puts it: \u201cAustralia\u2019s cash rate is still well below other advanced economies \u2013 as the UK, US and NZ cash rates all sit above 5% \u2013 and overall, the economy is proving resilient to the hikes, with unemployment still quite low at 3.7%.\u201d<\/p>\n Eddy was also busy this morning wrapping up what happened in the US on Friday, where Wall Street put in a decent day\u2019s effort to end the week on a high.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 rose by +0.59%, the blue chips Dow Jones index was up by +0.82%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose by +0.55% \u2013\u00a0all of which helped add to the local markets\u2019 feel-good vibes this morning.<\/p>\n In US stock news, Tesla fell 0.5% after its long-awaited Cybertruck started arriving in customer driveways to some very mixed reviews.<\/p>\n I could happily spend hours and hours being snide about how utterly ridiculous that vehicle is \u2013 but I won\u2019t, because I\u2019m already well behind schedule this morning, so you\u2019re going to have to wait until tomorrow.<\/p>\n (Ed: It\u2019s actually awesome. And tomorrow is too late, so you\u2019ll have to move on sorry.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Pfizer fell 5% as the drugmaker said it won\u2019t move forward with trials for its twice-daily regimen of its weight-loss pill, danuglipron, which was intended to compete with Ozempic and other weight loss drugs in the market.<\/p>\n Other notable movers include Alibaba, which slipped -1% after Morgan Stanley downgraded the e-commerce stock, citing slower turnaround in customer management revenue (CMR).<\/p>\n In Asia, Japan\u2019s Nikkei has slipped 0.44% this morning, Shanghai\u2019s markets are up 0.2% and Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng is 0.58% better off in early trade.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 4 December [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Nominally at the top of the winner\u2019s list this morning is DiscovEX, which is showing a 100% jump \u2013 but the only \u2018news\u2019 I can find is a very boring bit of paperwork about a tranche of expired options from last week.<\/p>\n However, right alongside it is local med-tech Compumedics, which has some stellar news from the United States, where its Somfit medical device has been cleared for sale in the US by the FDA.<\/p>\n Compumedics reckons the market in the US is worth about US$110-180 million, and that the company is targeting a relatively modest 10%-30% of that market over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n The company has been hard at work with the commercialisation of Somfit here in Australia, and has previously reported some success, with $1.2 million worth of orders already on the books from local buyers.<\/p>\n Boab Metals is surging this morning, despite no fresh news since telling the market about assays from early drill work at its 75% owned Sorby Hills Lead-silver-zinc project in WA, back in early November.<\/p>\n Those results were pretty good \u2013 and they were really just the initial findings from exploration work at the site, with further results looming on the horizon.<\/p>\n And Noble Helium has plucked a 31% jump this morning on news that its Mbelele-2 wireline logging and sampling program has been successfully completed, with some happy results from the company\u2019s 100% owned North Rukwa Helium Project in Tanzania.<\/p>\n \u201cMultiple data points throughout the drilling campaign point to a prolific helium system: a probable 10-15 metre column of nitrogen and helium at the crest, helium-rich downhole samples calculated at 2-3% helium in exsolved gas and helium-rich gas bubbles in the drilling mud at multiple depths in both wells,\u201d Noble said this morning.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 4 December [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Who\u2019s lack of due diligence has cost them their job this week?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TO MARKETS<\/h2>\n
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NOT THE ASX<\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n