The ASX benchmark has been a bit of a pushover on Monday<\/p>\n
Energy Sector makes sunshine-hay<\/p>\n
Small caps led by LTR Pharma and West Cobar Metals<\/p>\n
Local markets have gently and casually ambled their way to a dead heat\/tie\/draw\u2026 whatever on Monday.<\/p>\n
Which does make one sometimes wonder why we all got out of bed.<\/p>\n
At 4pm on Monday December 11, the S&P\/ASX 200 (XJO) index was up 0.4 points, or +0.0056%. That\u2019s flat, as.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Via Google<\/p>\n It looks rather like the punters are playing it straight to start the week \u2013 one which has ahead of us more show-stopping interest rate calls for the monetary policy teams at several of the big global central banks this week.<\/p>\n The calls, which traders reckon are worth waiting on, before deciding where to put the sideline cash \u2013 the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE).<\/p>\n At home on Monday, there was little to love as early broad-based gains began to trade with a narrower band almost immediately.<\/p>\n The IT Sector, Utilities and Property stocks have all sounded the retreat.<\/p>\n Via MarketIndex<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Around the bourse\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s transformational-merger-time<\/em> for local Heathcare Sector leader Sigma Healthcare (ASX:SIG)<\/strong><\/a>, which says it\u2019s got a green light love-in with Chemist Warehouse \u2013 almost certainly dragging the retail pharmacy onto the bourse to create what SIG says would be a near $9bn vertical health giant, capable of pulling in some $3bn in revenue in just Year One of operations.<\/p>\n Sigma owns health retail brands like Amcal and PharmaSave.<\/p>\n The money flows would be largely toward Chemist Warehouse\u2019 key stakeholders who secure 85.75% of the merged company \u2013 the founders \u2013 Jack Gance and Mario Verrocchi (or specifically, their families), enjoying a 49% stake worth circa $2bn a piece.<\/p>\n The families would also receive a $700 million cash payment up front.<\/p>\n In other random \u2013 but exciting \u2013 company news veggie maker Costa Group Holdings (ASX:CGC)<\/strong><\/a> warned investors of a likely dip in earnings for the FY with lower prices and bad weather not quite baked in.<\/p>\n They are a little bit now \u2013 CGC is down almost -3% at the time of writing.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the knowledge of actual trading since August 2023 including the finalisation of both the northern and southern citrus crops and Costa\u2019s current outlook for the remainder of CY23, Costa now expects the full year EBITDA-S result to be below CY22,\u201d the company told the ASX on Monday.<\/p>\n CGC told shareholders a few months ago that earnings were headed up, not down.<\/p>\n Costa is down -4%.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, on the big cap list of cyclical stock sufferers on Monday \u2013 IDP Education (ASX:IEL)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0 (-.3.7%), Infratil (ASX:IFT)<\/strong><\/a> (- 2.5%) and the overbought goldie Northern Star Resources (ASX:NST)<\/strong><\/a> leading the bleeding.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And naturally we\u2019re watching oil\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Meantime, after crude oil futures surged 2.5% on Friday, the ASX Energy Sector (XEJ) index was gifted a way back from the Doghouse it\u2019s been in this last quarter, and it\u2019s been trying to play catch up from the pretty calamitous market ructions still shaking old school energy stocks.<\/p>\n All that is except for Santos.<\/p>\n Napoleon\u2019s large cap ASX vanguard putting the spinse back into local energy names were led by Allkem (ASX:AKE)<\/strong><\/a> (up +3.5%), Mercury NZ (ASX:MCY)<\/strong><\/a> (up +2.4%), Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS)<\/strong><\/a> (up +1.5 per cent) as well as Meridian (ASX:MEZ)<\/strong><\/a> (up 1.6%) led the large-cap stocks as crude oil futures rose slightly after surging 2.5 per cent on Friday.<\/p>\n West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has nudged US$71.7 per barrel on Monday, up for a second straight session, despite signs of a structural weakening in market fundamentals \u2013 mainly there\u2019s a glut which we ain\u2019t calling a glut.<\/p>\n That\u2019s weighing on market sentiment\u2026 but not mine. I reckon cheaper petrol prices could work for Chrissy this Christmas.<\/p>\n The US government has sought up to 3 million barrels for strategic reserves for delivery in March 2024. Still, oil prices have come off a seven-week losing streak, the longest since 2018, amid signs of increasing global supplies and weakening demand.<\/p>\n Despite OPEC+\u2019s pledge to cut 2.2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of 2024, traders remain skeptical it would have a significant impact on the market as production in non-OPEC countries continued to grow.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Naturally we\u2019re watching gold\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n And spot prices are back taking a look around the US$2,000 an ounce mark on Monday, down circa -0.4% at US$1,996.<\/p>\n Not an all out tragedy, but the precious metal is a little less precious now it\u2019s back around its lowest levels in more than two weeks.<\/p>\n Via TradingEconomics<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Cheap as China\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Over the weekend, China\u2019s consumer prices (CPI) fell 0.5% year on year (during November), easily double the 0.2% drop of October, and absolutely whaling on the consensus -0.1% forecast.<\/p>\n It was three years to the month since a decline of that size and pace was last felt. That was China\u2019s CPI read of November 2020, a historic pandemic-induced shocker in its own right. This time it was the bottom falling out of food prices \u2013 down the most in over two years due to collapsing pork prices.<\/p>\n China is the world\u2019s only nation with a strategic pork reserve.<\/p>\n Oh. And China\u2019s producer prices (PPI) also fell by a monstrous -3.0%. A 15th straight monthly decline.<\/p>\n Traders are also looking ahead to US inflation data, which could further seal the deal on interest rate trading.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In the States\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The three major US indices closed higher on Friday and were ahead for a sixth straight week following the Goldilocksier-than-expected US jobs data, which balanced the view that the Fed could start cutting rates by March 2024.<\/p>\n Data from November showed that nearly 200,000 jobs were added to the US economy, firmly above market expectations of a 180,000 net gain. Additionally, the unemployment rate unexpectedly retreated and wage growth persisted at an elevated rate, while the labor force also increased.<\/p>\n Whatevs. It\u2019s all about what happens this week with The Fed.<\/p>\n Futures tied to the 3 major US indices are almost at universal parity ahead of the Thursday open in New York:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Via Fox<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n Leading the Small Caps winners list \u2013 and waaaay out ahead of the rest of the market \u2013 was debutante LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP)<\/span><\/a>, which made a stunning entrance on the ASX this morning to be up 70% in the space of a couple of hours, and closed out the day by cracking the ton, up 100%.<\/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 <\/span>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 The next two on the ladder are slightly curious \u2013\u00a0West Cobar Metals (ASX:WC1)<\/span><\/a> and Cauldron Energy (ASX:CXU)<\/span><\/a> have both banked better-than +30% gains, despite neither having any recent news that might explain why they\u2019re moving that way today.<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, West Cobar did get a speeding ticket from the ASX, to which it responded with (words to the effect of) \u201cnothing to see here\u2026 we\u2019re also mystified\u201d \u2013 but Cauldron seems to just be puddling along, well out in front of the rest of the small cappers with a big grin on its face.<\/p>\n The next best performer with actual news was Pact Group (ASX:PGH)<\/span><\/a>, which went sailing through +22.5% today because it\u2019s the target of an off-market takeover that got very juicy this morning.<\/p>\n Bennamon Industries is the entity behind the bid, and today it announced that it really wants to buy Pact holus bolus \u2013 as indicated by Bennamon upping its per share offer from $0.68 cash per Pact share to $0.84 cash.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a chunky 21% push in price, and quite a sizeable step up from Pact\u2019s previous closing price \u2013 whether it\u2019s going to be enough to entice the required number of shareholders over the line remains to be seen.<\/p>\n And a couple of short bursts to round out the list: MetalsGrove Mining (ASX:MGA)<\/span><\/a> is up on news that the company has entered into a strategic agreement to acquire six new lithium claims in Zimbabwe, while Grand Gulf Energy (ASX:GGE)<\/span><\/a> rose 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.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/p>\n WordPress Tables Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Rimfire Pacific Mining (ASX:RIM)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company to the market regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n Elixir Energy (ASX:EXR)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company with respect to a capital raising.<\/p>\n Technology Metals Australia (ASX: TMT) \u2013 pending an announcement to the market in relation to a merger with Australian Vanadium.<\/p>\n Australian Vanadium (ASX: AVL) \u2013 See above.<\/p>\n Investigator Resources (ASX: IVR) \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company to the market regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n Sunstone Metals (ASX: STM) \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company to the market regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n PharmAust (ASX:PAA)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company to the market regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n Infinity Mining (ASX: IMI) \u2013 pending an announcement by the Company to the market regarding a capital raising.<\/p>\n Compumedics (ASX:CMP)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement about correspondence received from a China-based distributor regarding additional MEG orders.<\/p>\n Talisman Mining (ASX: TLM) \u2013 pending an announcement in relation to exploration results at<\/p>\n the Company\u2019s Lachlan Copper-Gold Project in NSW.<\/p>\n Sacgasco (ASX:SGC)<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 pending an announcement to the market in relation to an update by the Company regarding the divestment of its Filipino operations.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The post Closing Bell: The ASX is spectacularly flat on Monday<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ASX Sectors on Monday<\/h2>\n
TODAY\u2019S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS<\/h2>\n
TODAY\u2019S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS<\/h2>\n
TRADING HALTS<\/h2>\n