Local markets are up this morning, helped along by climbing commodities in the energy sector over the weekend, and a muted \u2013 but still pretty good \u2013 session on Wall Street on Friday.<\/p>\n
The big news is a stunning market debut this morning from a little pharma company with the equivalent of the tech sector\u2019s \u201ckiller app\u201d in its pocket\u00a0\u2013\u00a0but I\u2019ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n
Because first, I\u2019d like to take the opportunity to applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of a group of ne\u2019er-do-wells from the Indian state of Gujarat, on the Bamanbore-Kutch national highway.<\/p>\n
The enterprising group spotted an opportunity to try one of the most brazen heists I\u2019ve seen in many, many years \u2013\u00a0by building an entire set of tollbooths off to the side of a major highway, and luring traffic through their illegal setup by charging motorists half of the official toll to use the highway.<\/p>\n
Now \u2013 that\u2019s the kind of thing that you\u2019d expect might work for a few days \u2013 maybe a week at most \u2013\u00a0before some sort of official noticed that there was suddenly a brand new toll booth offering half-price trips down the motorway.<\/p>\n
But the scam lasted significantly longer than that, eventually getting rumbled 18 months<\/em> after it was built and put into operation.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no official word yet on just how much money the scheme managed to rake in, but police have arrested the owner of the land where the fake toll booths were built, along with at least four accomplices.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n TO MARKETS<\/p>\n Things got off to a pretty good start this morning, as an early surge in the InfoTech sector helped lend momentum to the benchmark, however, it was the market sectors that are most exposed to broader economic forces \u2013\u00a0in particular, interest rates \u2013\u00a0that have been the main motivator this morning.<\/p>\n The Energy sector, which was all over the place last week as the world grappled with oil prices that refused, like a recalcitrant child, to sit still and behave themselves.<\/p>\n Those prices have steadied somewhat over the past few days, though, rising gently along with pretty much every other energy commodity in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n Oil prices bouncesd back over the weekend, leaving Brent crude on $75.65, and WTI crude on $71.21 a barrel \u2013 gains of 1.45% and 2.24% respectively \u2013 which, in turn has helped push Energy out to a solid lead ahead of the rest of the major sectors.<\/p>\n The only commodity not making headway today was natural gas, which is down more than 3.3%.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Chart via Marketindex.com.au<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n At a more granular level on the local market, the XBK ASX Banks Index is showing that it\u2019s the money hoarders and change-makers that are making the most of the morning\u2019s brisk trade, with that index up 0.67% and out in front of the broader market by a considerable margin.<\/p>\n And it is very much worth noting which way the XGD All Ords Gold Index is pointing this morning, as the precious metal makes its ponderous way back towards the wrong side of US$2,000\/oz, the goldies aren\u2019t getting a lot of love today \u2013 it\u2019s down 1.16% as of lunchtime.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Chart via Marketindex.com.au<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Up the fancy end of town, Smartgroup Corporation (ASX:SIQ)<\/strong><\/a> is up 7.5% this morning, on news that it\u2019s landed a juicy contract with the SA Government, with its subsidiary Smartsalary set to step in as exclusive administrator of salary packaging services and novated leasing services under an initial five-year agreement.<\/p>\n Smartgroup has also revealed its outlook for the year, expecting to reach revenue of approximately $249 million, driven largely by what the company says is strong growth in novated leases.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Part of the reason things were tracking well locally this morning was that Wall Street put in a pretty solid effort, considering it was a Friday and we\u2019re getting perilously close to the holiday season.<\/p>\n Data in the US is starting to take shape in favour of the belief that the US Fed\u2019s aggressive moves to curb inflation might actually be starting to work \u2013 a US Dept of Labor report showing that nonfarm payrolls increased by 199,000 jobs in November, well above the 180,000 estimates.<\/p>\n Other data revealed the US unemployment rate dropped to 3.7%, alongside a 0.4% increase in average earnings (on a monthly basis) \u2013 again outpacing estimates that were pointing to 0.3% instead, some bozo reported this morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe drop in the unemployment rate in particular will assuage any concerns of a recession, and with payrolls and earnings both rising, it keeps the \u2018soft landing\u2019 narrative very much in the ascendancy,\u201d said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital in London.<\/p>\n \u201cThe report will likely see some of those forecasting an early Fed cut next year re-evaluating their positions,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n In US stock news, it was a mixed bag for the bug names in tech \u2013 chipmaker Nvidia and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms each put on nearly 2%, while Google-parent Alphabet fell 1.4%, giving up gains as the latest AI-company share rush lost momentum and profit-takers did their thing.<\/p>\n In Asia, the Nikkei is up 1.89%, Shanghai markes have fallen 0.95% and Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng is sliding gracelessly into the sea, down 1.25% in early trade.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 11 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 Leading the Small Caps winners list \u2013 and waaaay out ahead of the rest of the market \u2013 is debutante LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP), which made a stunning entrance on the ASX this morning to be up 70% in the space of a couple of hours.<\/p>\n LTR Pharma\u2019s immediate success can be pinned on the fact that it\u2019s done what a lot of microcap pharmaceutical companies don\u2019t do \u2013 and that\u2019s come to the ASX with a developed, patent-protected product that makes immediate sense the moment it\u2019s explained.<\/p>\n The company makes a product called Spontan, which looks like a nasal decongestant spray, but acts on an entirely different part of the male anatomy as a rapid, on-demand fix for erectile dysfunction.<\/p>\n The company is in the process of commercialising Spontan, it\u2019s got a successful Phase I human proof of concept study under its belt \u2013 which indicates a 6x faster effect compared to\u00a0 oral administration of tablets like Viagra \u2013 and the company says it\u2019s got a clear pathway to market, progressing to bioequivalence study with expedited regulatory filings in the US and Australia within 1-2 years.<\/p>\n Our very own Rob Badman has a full round-up of the company\u2019s pre-listing story here<\/a>, if \u201cfast acting boner spray\u201d isn\u2019t enough info to tingle your tangerines into action.<\/p>\n Coming second is West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1)<\/strong><\/a>, which is moving rapidly this morning, apparently in the wake of nearly week-old news from the company\u2019s Salazar rare earth elements project, located 100km north of Esperance in Western Australia.<\/p>\n Cobar dropped a market update on 06 December, outlining how things are progressing at the site, and it\u2019s all looking pretty positive \u2013 rare earth element characterisation testwork has been the focus in recent months, including magnetic separation and flotation upgrade trials.<\/p>\n Those have come back from the lab, where using a wet high gradient magnetic separator in a standard configuration yielded a magnetic concentrate grading 0.778% TREO with overall 69% TREO yield at an upgrade ratio of 5.3:1.<\/p>\n Subsequent flotation testwork yielded a concentrate of 5.08% TREO which represents a 34.3:1 upgrade on the original feed. The TREO yield to concentrate was 68%.<\/p>\n And in third place this morning is Grand Gulf Energy (ASX:GGE)<\/strong><\/a>, rising sharply on news that the Jesse-1A well has unexpectedly flowed significant helium to surface at concentrations consistent with the previous downhole sample of 1% helium, which the company says is \u201chighly encouraging and a massive step forward in the Jesse appraisal and development programme\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe compelling commercial pillars of the Red Helium project remain unchanged. In the event of a successful flow-test Grand Gulf has the potential to quickly move to production, potentially within six months, requiring minimal capex given the existing gathering infrastructure and offtake agreement,\u201d Grand Gulf MD Dane Lance said.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 11 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 been just a bit too entrepreneurial in India recently?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NOT THE ASX<\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n