ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Benchmark down, MinRes climbs on $1.1bn deal

The ASX was down about 0.5 per cent around lunch on Thursday, with a mix of company meetings and earnings updates keeping the index in check.

Pic: Getty Images

The ASX was down by 0.52p er cent around stomach-grumbling time on Thursday, as a mix of company meetings and earnings updates kept the index in check.

In the utilities sector, AGL Energy (ASX:AGL) was down more than 6 per cent on no specific news, but it appears that Barrenjoey has issued a downgrade on the stock.

Fellow utilities stock Origin Energy (ASX:ORG) rose 0.5 per cent after reporting an increase in liquid natural gas (LNG) revenue for the September quarter, despite a dip in overall production.

Consumer stocks were also gaining heading to lunch, with JB HiFi (ASX:JBH) leading the charge at 6 per cent after reporting solid sales growth, particularly in New Zealand.

In mining, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) jumped 15 per cent after announcing a $1.1 billion deal to sell its oil and gas assets to Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting, putting it on track to restore its debt-heavy balance sheet. The company also said it planned to release findings regarding an investigation into boss Chris Ellison's tax matters and related party transactions by Monday.

The biggest large caps losers  were Star Entertainment Group (ASX:SGR) and Imugene (ASX:IMU) – both down around 7 per cent.

Imugene reported its quarterly update on Thursday. The market likely reacted negatively after the company reported a substantial cash outflow of $24 million during the quarter.

Meanwhile, in economics data, Australian retail sales only inched up 0.1 per cent in September, falling short of expectations for a 0.3 per cent increase, following a stronger 0.7 per cent rise in August.

Overall sales for the third quarter rose 0.5 per cent to $104.6 billion, breaking a trend of losses, but spending per person is still down 1.9 per cent compared to last year.

Not the ASX

Overnight, Wall Street fell as the earnings season went into full swing.

Reddit reported strong Q3 sales that exceeded forecasts, leading to a 42 per cent surge in its shares.

Microsoft also had a good day, with shares up 0.75 per cent after reporting strong Q3 earnings, thanks to a 22 per cent growth in its Azure cloud business.

However, investors sold off Meta shares despite the company projecting stronger holiday sales. Although Meta reported a 19 per cent year-over-year sales increase and expects Q4 revenue between $45 billion and $48 billion, this fell short of analysts’ expectations of $46 billion.

Across the Atlantic, the Eurozone economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the last quarter, surpassing expectations of 0.2 per cent. However, it remains sluggish, with industry in recession and household spending barely moving.

In commodities, gold hit a record high of $US2789.90 an ounce, breaking the previous record set on Tuesday, while oil prices rebounded by 3 per cent after a few days of losses.

Over to you, Gregor, for some additional commentary…

In Japan  on Thursday morning, the Nikkei was down 0.43 per cent through the morning session, most likely because Japanese scientists are in the middle of a horrifying experiment, in a bid to find out what happens when they feed neurotoxins to pufferfish – aka, Fugu.

It turns out that the pufferfish that are A) considered a delicacy in Japan, and B) completely lethal if you eat the wrong bit, aren’t actually born toxic – they acquire the deadly tetrodotoxin from their own diet, which is rich in nutrients and deadly germs.

So… the scientists are trying to discover what happens if they take non-toxic Fugu, and feed them the neurotoxins, and I have no idea why… and I don’t think they’re quite sure, either.

But while they’re hard at work all but ensuring that millions of people will die when the experiment goes horribly wrong, here’s a look at the local small caps winners.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best-performing ASX small cap stocks for October 31:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.0025	67%	129,694,646	$3,498,684
FFF	Forbidden Foods	0.013	63%	3,133,684	$4,577,788
AYM	Australia United Min	0.003	50%	176,557	$3,685,155
CDE	Codeifai Limited	0.0015	50%	500,000	$2,641,295
RBR	RBR Group Ltd	0.0015	50%	1,750,000	$1,634,405
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.0015	50%	3,900,000	$2,767,292
SIT	Site Group Int Ltd	0.003	50%	7,925,000	$6,304,980
TLG	Talga Group Ltd	0.59	46%	6,288,960	$173,744,838
W2V	Way2Vatltd	0.008	33%	1,055,555	$5,442,300
LKY	Locksley Resources	0.029	26%	42,501,220	$3,373,333
TKM	Trek Metals Ltd	0.035	25%	2,029,013	$14,388,440
LNU	Linius Tech Limited	0.0025	25%	500,000	$11,730,481
LPD	Lepidico Ltd	0.0025	25%	2,250,000	$17,178,250
RIL	Redivium Limited	0.005	25%	1,282,690	$10,987,419
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.0025	25%	405,436	$11,790,134
NAG	Nagambie Resources	0.018	20%	1,897,804	$11,949,535
QXR	Qx Resources Limited	0.006	20%	2,661,900	$5,550,389
SRN	Surefire Rescs NL	0.006	20%	166,000	$9,931,539
KNI	Kunikolimited	0.215	19%	351,348	$15,618,468
TER	Terracom Ltd	0.2025	19%	3,568,587	$136,164,260
CKA	Cokal Ltd	0.083	19%	1,242,751	$75,526,429
POL	Polymetals Resources	0.79	17%	914,415	$131,463,449
AKM	Aspire Mining Ltd	0.31	17%	19,660	$134,523,801
PPY	Papyrus Australia	0.016	14%	252,088	$6,897,696
T88	Taiton Resources	0.165	14%	5,000	$7,920,559

Talga Group (ASX:TLG), a vertically integrated battery anode and graphene additive company, is on the up on Thursday after the successful conclusion of the environmental process for the Nunasvaara South natural graphite mine, part of its Vittangi Anode Project in northern Sweden.

The Swedish Supreme Court has dismissed all requests for leave to appeal the Environmental and Natura 2000 permit, meaning the mine environmental permit is now in force.

Forbidden Foods (ASX:FFF) has announced the launch of a new Oat Milk Goodness (‘OMG’) product into 130 Ampol Foodary stores, as well as via 100 per cent-owned ecommerce channels. The new stock-keeping (SKU) unit is a coffee flavoured variety and an extension of OMG’s protein range. Investors are liking the taste of a rising FFF share price on Thursday morning.

Locksley Resources (ASX:LKY) has been surging, too. As Jess Cummins reports:

LKY has used the past 12 months looking for REEs at its Mojave project near Las Vegas which abuts America’s largest and only operating rare earths mine Mountain Pass. The latter delivers about 15 per cent of the world’s supply.

Mojave plays host to the historical Desert Antimony mine containing quartz-stibnite veins that produced about 100-1000 tonnes with antimony (Sb) grades ranging from 15-20 per cent.

Recent rock chip sampling across the area has thrown up antimony grades as high as 46 per cent on Thursday morning, with eight delivering values over 17 per cent and over 18 returning grades over 1.4 per cent antimony. 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst-performing ASX small cap stocks for October 31:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
OAR	OAR Resources Ltd	0.001	-50%	250,000	$6,601,669
BCC	Beam Communications	0.095	-37%	979,229	$12,963,288
EEL	Enrg Elements Ltd	0.002	-33%	75,468	$3,135,048
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.002	-33%	1,390,911	$20,449,775
MDR	Medadvisor Limited	0.24	-31%	14,696,059	$192,957,673
M2R	Miramar	0.0055	-31%	8,687,408	$3,174,586
PPG	Pro-Pac Packaging	0.019	-30%	1,701,354	$4,905,568
ATH	Alterity Therap Ltd	0.003	-25%	4,968,484	$21,281,344
BNL	Blue Star Helium Ltd	0.003	-25%	601,725	$10,779,541
IPB	IPB Petroleum Ltd	0.006	-25%	7,000	$5,651,224
LNR	Lanthanein Resources	0.003	-25%	1,643,890	$9,774,545
PAB	Patrys Limited	0.003	-25%	938,855	$8,229,789
EVR	Ev Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	84,521	$6,981,357
TAS	Tasman Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	909,334	$4,026,248
LVH	Livehire Limited	0.028	-18%	106,566	$12,974,895
AJX	Alexium Int Group	0.01	-17%	4,573,997	$18,886,545
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.0025	-17%	3,333,333	$4,424,201
DVL	Dorsavi Ltd	0.01	-17%	2,028,000	$8,037,311
NGY	Nuenergy Gas Ltd	0.016	-16%	489,451	$33,833,403
3PL	3P Learning Ltd	0.9	-15%	1,566	$287,916,381
CVB	Curvebeam Ai Limited	0.094	-15%	368,229	$33,714,320
ALR	Altairminerals	0.003	-14%	91,198	$15,038,021
MPR	Mpower Group Limited	0.012	-14%	510,003	$4,811,846
RGL	Riversgold	0.003	-14%	2,118,314	$5,696,119
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.003	-14%	110,909	$16,928,097

ICYMI – AM EDITION

ICYMI for Lunch Wrap October 31

Indiana Resources (ASX:IDA) has received the second instalment of $US25m of the $US90m settlement that the Tanzanian Government had agreed to pay in settlement over the unlawful expropriation of Ntaka Hill base metals project.

Following receipt of funds, Ntaka UK Limited (NUKL) has repaid an additional $US24.5m on a $US38m loan obligation to the company. This follows the initial repayment of $US6.6m made in July.

IDA is now in a strong financial position to accelerate its planned exploration activities in South Australia focusing on several high priority gold targets, with reverse circulation and diamond drilling currently underway.

Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:PAR) has submitted the updated protocol for the Phase 3 clinical trial of its injectable pentosan polysulfate sodium (iPPS) for knee osteoarthritis (OA).

It expects the review to be completed within the 30-day review period, which start on October 29, allowing it to start pre-screening and enrolment for the PARA_OA_012 trial shortly thereafter.

Preparations are already underway at trial sites across Australia and the US, with initial activities to be launched at up to 10 sites in Australia, targeting first patient enrolment by Q1 CY2025.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Indiana Resources and Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.

Originally published as ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: Benchmark down, MinRes climbs on $1.1bn deal