The local market has found some spunk on Friday morning, leaving the benchmark indices looking happier mid-morning than they have been in quite some time.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
At midday, the S&P\/ASX 200 Index was up by 65.5 points or 0.89% to above 7,4100.<\/strong><\/p>\n Via Google<\/p>\n On the last day of the week, out came the benchmark testicles so very absent over the last five sessions. Meanwhile, we have news from Canada that has put the nation at risk of being known as North Florida for generations to come.<\/p>\n Police in Caledon (just up the road from central Toronto) have told local media that a 25-year-old driver is on track to set an enviable record, losing his licence less than 20 minutes after passing his driving exam.<\/p>\n Officers say that they observed the man driving erratically, speeding and weaving through traffic, travelling (allegedly) at speeds of more than 50kph over the posted speed limit \u2013 and once they finally managed to pull the young fella over, police discovered open containers of alcohol inside the car.<\/p>\n He told police that he had been drinking and driving like a madman in celebration of his success in getting his driver\u2019s permit less than half an hour prior to being pulled over \u2013 and a breath test showed that he was well over the legal limit.<\/p>\n The man, who hasn\u2019t been named in local newspapers, was charged with careless driving, novice driver with BAC above zero, driving with open liquor and several other document related offences, police said.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t even begin to understand why someone would think that drinking a beer in their vehicle while driving is a smart idea, let alone a novice driver who should be well versed on the rules of the road,\u201d Const. Ian Michel told reporters.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also been charged with the incredibly exciting-sounding crime of \u201cstunt driving\u201d \u2013 similar in theory to the various hoon laws we have scattered around Australia, but only available to drivers in Canada who can provide clear footage of themselves parallel parking at high speed , before reversing through an entire moose without enraging the animal beyond its normal level of Massive Crankiness.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Local markets felt the positivity of some stonking tech-heavy Wall Street corporate earnings overnight.<\/p>\n \u2018So much for solid US jobs data,\u2019 they said. \u2018That\u2019s for your hawkish Fedspeak and we fart in the general direction of your geopolitical uncertainty.\u2019<\/p>\n At 105\/20 Bridge St, the resource-rich Aussie market found further reason to get jiggy on the back of some nicely rebounding commodity prices, which were enthused by\u00a0 thin smoke signals around some China stimmy.<\/p>\n Energy stocks were also among the first out the gate, after the Brent crude oil rise was close to 1.5% to about US$79 a barrel. Gold also climbed overnight by about up 0.9% to US$2,023.<\/p>\n All the blue chips you know and love \u2014 BHP (ASX:BHP)<\/strong><\/a> , Fortescue (ASX:FMG)<\/strong><\/a>, Santos (ASX:STO)<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0and Woodside Energy Group (ASX:WDS) <\/strong><\/a>\u2014 are doing their bit.<\/p>\n The morning\u2019s other big winner on Blue Chip street is Whitehaven Coal (ASX:WHC)<\/strong><\/a> , up about 7% on juicy production numbers.<\/p>\n The banks and the tech stocks are dining out at lunch on Friday too.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Via MarketIndex<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Still, let\u2019s not break out the champagne just yet, the benchmark index is on track to end the week well over 1% behind.<\/p>\n In local bond markets, the yield on Australian 2 Year government bonds was up at 3.93% while the 10 Year yield was up at 4.26%. US Treasury notes were mixed, with the 2 Year yield unchanged at 4.35% and the 10 Year yield up at 4.14%<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n US stock futures are mixed on Friday morning in Sydney after last night\u2019s Nasdaq led rally on Wall Street during the previous session.<\/p>\n The Dow ended higher by about 0.55%, the S&P 500 gained 0.89% and the Nasdaq Composite climbed happily away by 1.35%,.<\/p>\n 7 out of\u00a0 11 S&P500 Sectors did the lifting led by Tech, Comms and Industrials.<\/p>\n Shares in the US-listed, Taiwanese chip giant TSMC led the advance, surging 9.8% after the chip producer reported solid fourth quarter numbers. Other chip firms including Nvidia (1.9%) and AMD (1.6%) also gained.<\/p>\n Out of favour lately after being dethroned by Microsoft as world\u2019s fattest market capped company, shares in Apple jumped 3.3% following a buy rating upgrade from Bank of America.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, more of the hawkish signals from Fed officials and strong US data lifted Treasury yields and reduced expectations of a rate cut in March.<\/p>\n In extended trading, Super Micro Computer jumped 10% on stronger-than-expected quarterly results, while iRobot plunged 10% after the European Commission said it would likely reject Amazon\u2019s bid to acquire the Roomba maker.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Via Fox<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for 19 January [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Table Plugin<\/a><\/p>\n IPB Petroleum (ASX:IPB)<\/strong><\/a> is nominally at the top of the Small Caps ladder today despite no news since it told the market about a signing an MoU with Australian oil and gas\u00a0 development tech company, Pivotree.<\/p>\n The MoU sets IPB up to use Pivotree technology for the potential future development within its WA-424-P Permit focussed on the proven Gwydion oil and gas discovery and potential Idris extension.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the likes of Pivotal Metals (ASX:PVT)<\/strong><\/a>, Mount Burgess Mining (ASX:MTB)<\/strong><\/a> and Genesis Resources (ASX:GES)<\/strong><\/a> are moving about quite a bit on decent volume, despite little or nothing in the way of news to the market today.<\/p>\n Labyrinth Resources (ASX:LRL)<\/strong><\/a> is moving nicely on a double-shot of happy news that has identified the company as the hottest ticket in town for anyone who loves great big steaming piles of cash in the bank.<\/p>\n Week before last, Labyrinth told the market that its sold off the Labyrinth and Denain gold projects in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Canada for US$3.5 million in cash money.<\/p>\n And this morning,\u00a0 the company was rolling in it again, after the Canadian tax office sent it a cheque for CAD $415,453, a rebate against expenditure incurred by Labyrinth hunting for resources last calendar year.<\/p>\n Lastly for the lead-up to lunch, market minnow Mantle Minerals (ASX:MTL)<\/strong><\/a> is moving quickly, after delivering a resource upgrade at the Highway nickel deposit, within the Pardoo Ni-Cu Project, located in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for 19 January [intraday]:<\/strong><\/p>\n Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n WordPress Table Plugin<\/a> The post ASX Small Cap Lunch Wrap: Who made a solid play for the title of \u2018Dumbest Canadian Ever\u2019 this week?<\/a> appeared first on Stockhead<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/h2>\n
TO MARKETS<\/h2>\n
ASX SECTORS AT LUNCH ON FRIDAY<\/h2>\n
\u00a0Not the ASX<\/h2>\n
US FUTURES AT LUNCHTIME:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n