Lunch Wrap: ASX wobbles on bond fears but Bitcoin looks spicy on its ‘Pizza Day’

ASX stocks wobble, Bitcoin soars and Mayne gets smashed – a messy day so far that has investors reassessing risk and red flags.

May 22 is Bitcoin Pizza Day – a messy one so far for other markets. Picture via Getty Images

• ASX drifts lower as Wall Street wobbles on bond fears

• Bitcoin rockets past $110k as risk appetite returns on 'Pizza Day'

• Mayne Pharma sinks again as takeover deal unravels

It’s one of those mornings where you refresh your trading app and let out a sigh.

By lunch time AEST, the ASX 200 index was down 0.55%, a slow bleed that followed a rough night on Wall Street. Investors weren’t panicking, just quietly pulling back.

The culprit was mainly bonds – a messy US$16 billion auction of 20-year US Treasuries flopped last night, with buyers demanding over 5%, the highest since 2020.

Moody’s had already slapped a downgrade on US debt, and now Trump’s fresh tax-and-spend plan was rubbing salt into the wound.

So, Wall Street tumbled. The S&P 500 dropped 1.6%, the Dow shed nearly 2%, and the Nasdaq joined the slide.

But while equities were licking their wounds, Bitcoin was charging ahead to new highs.

BTC climbed past US$110,000 mark, a fresh all-time high, with its market cap topping USD$2.15 trillion.

At the time of writing, however, it's cruising at a US$110,668 altitude.

Bitcoin’s bull run had kicked off under Trump’s crypto-friendly watch, but nearly came off the rails when his trade war with China spooked the market.

"However, market concerns have eased following a recent breakthrough in trade negotiations, which includes a 90-day agreement to reduce mutual tariffs," said Alex Nagorskii, Portfolio manager at DigitalX.

By the way, for the trivia nerds and crypto tragics, today, May 22, is Bitcoin Pizza Day (Australian time zone edition), marking the moment in 2010 when a bloke swapped 10,000 BTC for two pizzas in Florida.

Laszlo Hanyecz posted on a crypto forum and got someone to order him two Papa John’s pizzas in exchange for 10,000 BTC, a deal that kickstarted Bitcoin’s journey into the real world.

It cost him $41. Today, that'd amount to a 1.16 BILLION DOLLAR feed, USD. Call it the most expensive takeaway order in history.

Back on home turf, the ASX’s mood was mostly glum, but not without a few bright spots in the large caps space.

Mining firm Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) was up 3% after naming ex-BHP heavyweight Frances Summerhayes as its new CFO. Investors seemed to like the idea of an old hand steering the ship.

Nufarm (ASX:NUF) kept sliding today, down another 8%, after yesterday’s 30% thumping.

The wellness and agri firm copped it after slashing its full-year earnings outlook, with half-year profit tanking on the back of weak fish oil prices and rising costs.

Source: Market Index

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 22 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
NWC	New World Resources	0.047	66%	169,611,968	$99,155,888
CP8	Canphosphateltd	0.031	55%	625,676	$6,135,211
HTA	Hutchison	0.032	52%	607,075	$285,022,680
MRD	Mount Ridley Mines	0.003	50%	1,202,236	$1,556,978
CRB	Carbine Resources	0.004	33%	100,015	$1,655,213
SHP	South Harz Potash	0.005	25%	1,029,710	$4,410,915
HMD	Heramed Limited	0.011	22%	2,974,676	$7,880,425
D3E	D3 Energy Limited	0.073	22%	8,157	$4,768,500
SKS	SKS Tech Group Ltd	1.860	22%	687,045	$172,996,915
AUN	Aurumin	0.080	21%	3,125,096	$32,621,170
AI1	Adisyn Ltd	0.069	21%	2,097,330	$41,218,159
GBE	Globe Metals &Mining	0.029	21%	110,000	$16,671,672
POD	Podium Minerals	0.030	20%	2,482,963	$17,035,265
OMA	Omega Oil and Gas	0.250	19%	788,569	$72,056,713
HIO	Hawsons Iron Ltd	0.016	19%	8,106,072	$13,722,768
THB	Thunderbird Resource	0.013	18%	4,333,234	$4,067,156
STM	Sunstone Metals Ltd	0.017	18%	21,182,457	$83,788,251
WEC	White Energy Company	0.033	18%	100	$8,725,357
ADX	ADX Energy Ltd	0.035	17%	178,262	$17,279,182
FNR	Far Northern Res	0.140	17%	60,062	$4,831,899
CRR	Critical Resources	0.004	17%	332,089	$7,842,664
GTR	Gti Energy Ltd	0.004	17%	132,430	$8,996,849
LSR	Lodestar Minerals	0.007	17%	692,857	$1,910,543
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.004	17%	1,750,015	$8,380,545

Hutchison Telecom (ASX:HTA) says it’s received a takeover offer from its major shareholder, HTABV, which already owns nearly 88% of the company. HTABV wants to buy the rest at 3.2 cents a share. HTA’s independent board committee is still weighing up the offer and is telling shareholders to take no action for now. A full response, including an independent expert’s report, will land once the offer formally opens by 5 June.

SKS Technologies (ASX:SKS) has landed a massive $100 million job to kit out a new data centre in Melbourne’s west for a global tech giant. It’s the third building it’s worked on at the site, after already delivering Buildings A and B for the same client. With this deal, SKS now has $220 million worth of work on the books, and says the pipeline's still looking strong, with nearly half a billion bucks' worth of jobs currently up for grabs.

Omega Oil & Gas (ASX:OMA) says fresh results from its Canyon-2 well have confirmed a large oil and gas system in Queensland’s Taroom Trough, strengthening the case that it’s sitting on a serious commercial opportunity.High-quality logging has revealed thicker and better-quality reservoir zones than first thought, with both oil and gas intervals now clearly identified.

Hawsons Iron (ASX:HIO) says fresh test work has backed its plan to use 100% dry processing at its NSW project, a cleaner, cheaper alternative to the traditional wet method. The independent report from Stantec confirms the dry circuit is not only viable but also cuts costs and improves environmental outcomes. It’s also opened the door to potential side products like silica sand.

And, Novonix (ASX:NVX) also surged ahead, thanks to a bit of geopolitical tailwind from across the Pacific. With the US planning tariffs on Chinese graphite, Novonix, who makes the stuff for lithium batteries, says it is in a pretty enviable spot.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 22 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.001	-50%	200,000	$2,949,467
BP8	Bph Global Ltd	0.002	-33%	467,992	$3,152,954
AAU	Antilles Gold Ltd	0.003	-25%	685,000	$8,505,471
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	-25%	2,594,198	$9,673,198
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.003	-25%	200,123	$3,505,321
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	-25%	4,790,121	$40,889,532
VTM	Victory Metals Ltd	0.770	-25%	1,361,615	$112,240,282
RMI	Resource Mining Corp	0.020	-23%	5,669,639	$17,300,549
EQR	Eq Resources Limited	0.038	-22%	640,448	$115,641,590
AQX	Alice Queen Ltd	0.004	-20%	891,321	$5,734,450
ASR	Asra Minerals Ltd	0.002	-20%	90,909	$6,916,340
PFT	Pure Foods Tas Ltd	0.016	-20%	212,102	$2,708,512
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.004	-20%	3,511,822	$27,111,136
DUB	Dubber Corp Ltd	0.014	-18%	22,185,621	$44,597,247
CCO	The Calmer Co Int	0.003	-17%	51,847	$9,033,947
RC1	Redcastle Resources	0.005	-17%	2,945,771	$4,461,401
1AI	Algorae Pharma	0.006	-14%	500,000	$11,811,763
FME	Future Metals NL	0.012	-14%	1,176,821	$10,063,209
MVL	Marvel Gold Limited	0.012	-14%	623,615	$15,116,337
TMS	Tennant Minerals Ltd	0.006	-14%	904,357	$6,691,233
TSL	Titanium Sands Ltd	0.006	-14%	34,502	$16,357,230
EMN	Euromanganese	0.190	-14%	448,789	$8,922,448
CR1	Constellation Res	0.130	-13%	81,001	$9,455,884
PCL	Pancontinental Energ	0.010	-13%	12,856,199	$93,570,737

Mayne Pharma (ASX:MYX) continued its nosedive,falling another 3% after a regulator query over whether it had kept shareholders properly informed. This followed a 30% plunge yesterday.

The selloff on Mayne was triggered by US-based Cosette Pharmaceuticals reconsidering its $672 million acquisition of Mayne, citing a "material adverse change" in Mayne's business and finances.

This reevaluation came after Mayne issued weaker-than-expected earnings guidance and disclosed a potential US regulatory issue with one of its key products.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Dimerix (ASX:DXB) has received the greenlight to continue its ACTION3 clinical trial unchanged, after the completion of a sixth independent data monitoring committee review.

The IDMC said there were no safety concerns to date, with the next scheduled meeting planned for the fourth quarter of 2025.
“This encouraging recommendation of the IDMC confirms the strong emerging safety profile of DMX-200 and suggests that DMX-200 does not add a burden of side effects to patients, compared to commonly used treatments such as high dose steroids and immunosuppressants,” Dimerix chief medical officer Dr David Fuller said.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Dimerix is a Stockhead advertiser, they did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Originally published as Lunch Wrap: ASX wobbles on bond fears but Bitcoin looks spicy on its ‘Pizza Day’