Lunch Wrap: ASX clobbered by war fears, but rising oil keeps it from falling harder

The ASX took a rather sharp hit on Monday as war fears spooked markets. At least rising oil prices gave energy names a little push higher.

ASX sinks as war nerves rattle stocks. Picture via Getty Images

• ASX sinks as war nerves rattle stocks

• Oil surges as Iran threat fuels energy fears

• Bitcoin tumbles under US$99k (briefly) in market shakeout

The ASX fell rather sharply at Monday lunch time in the east, down by 0.6% as war jitters and a Wall Street wobble triggered a risk-off mood.

But it could’ve been worse. A lift in energy names helped soften the blow as they ride the wave of surging oil prices after military strikes in the Middle East.

Over the weekend, the US launched stealth bomber raids on three Iranian nuclear sites. What was a localised war is now looking more like a direct war with the US with serious flow-on effects for oil, global trade, and investor nerves.

Oil prices surged 2% over the past few hours.

Experts warned that if Iran follows through with threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20% of the world’s oil and gas passes through, we could be staring down an oil crisis that’s three times worse than the oil shocks of the late '70s.

OPEC usually has spare capacity to step in during shocks, but analysts reckon not this time. The US strategic reserves are also near empty after Ukraine, and there’s no white knight ready to ride in.

The Aussie dollar slipped by 0.5% to 64.3 US cents, while gold climbed on the safe-haven bid this morning.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin fell below $US99,000 at one point, before climbing back to US$101k as of the time of writing.

Some analysts have suggested traders have been piling in to BTC with a bit too much confidence, expecting a continued rise.

This is where things stood on the ASX at around 12:50pm, AEST:

Source: MarketIndex

In the large caps space, grocery wholesaler Metcash (ASX:MTS) was up 4% after posting a small drop in full-year profit that still beat expectations.

Its food business is doing the heavy lifting, with earnings up 18%. Tobacco sales, though, are getting smoked, down 20% as the black market continues to chew into legitimate trade.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for June 23 :

Security	Description	Last	%	Volume	MktCap
CT1	Constellation Tech	0.002	100%	1,066,500	$1,474,734
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.003	50%	333,333	$2,362,635
GMN	Gold Mountain Ltd	0.002	50%	308,261	$5,619,759
PV1	Provaris Energy Ltd	0.022	47%	9,036,019	$10,470,019
BDT	Birddog	0.067	37%	3,855,173	$7,912,815
ASR	Asra Minerals Ltd	0.002	33%	1,000,000	$5,987,547
DTM	Dart Mining NL	0.004	33%	900,000	$3,594,167
VFX	Visionflex Group Ltd	0.002	33%	339,890	$5,051,791
X2M	X2M Connect Limited	0.025	32%	1,175,174	$7,375,455
BEL	Bentley Capital Ltd	0.010	25%	20,000	$609,023
CHM	Chimeric Therapeutic	0.005	25%	2,623,094	$8,060,777
EDE	Eden Inv Ltd	0.003	25%	6,681,301	$8,219,762
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.003	25%	4,994,924	$6,011,030
RDN	Raiden Resources Ltd	0.005	25%	5,625,909	$13,803,566
RLG	Roolife Group Ltd	0.005	25%	200,000	$6,371,125
ROG	Red Sky Energy.	0.005	25%	4,021,527	$21,688,909
SKK	Stakk Limited	0.005	25%	464,971	$8,300,319
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.003	25%	24,346,799	$4,178,468
TFL	Tasfoods Ltd	0.005	25%	1,402,984	$1,748,382
T92	Terrauraniumlimited	0.033	22%	390,390	$2,751,716
DGR	DGR Global Ltd	0.006	20%	213,910	$5,218,480
LOC	Locatetechnologies	0.135	17%	4,460,709	$26,293,219
RIM	Rimfire Pacific	0.021	17%	2,385,851	$45,322,090
BLU	Blue Energy Limited	0.007	17%	1,114,611	$11,105,842
NHE	Nobleheliumlimited	0.022	16%	1,187,326	$11,390,975

BirdDog Technology (ASX:BDT) has bumped up its proposed buy-back price by 40% to 7 cents a share, after talking with shareholders about its plan to delist from the ASX. That new offer is more than double what it last traded at before the delisting news dropped in April. It’s also rescheduled the shareholder vote, now set for 9am on Tuesday July 22.

Aussie IoT companyX2M Connect (ASX:X2M) has landed a $3 million deal with the City of Seoul to supply 100,000 smart personal safety devices by the end of 2025. The “Help Me” keychains connect to Seoul’s emergency systems, and send real-time alerts when someone’s in trouble. Backed by a new national safety mandate, the project could scale up to a million units, giving X2M a big runway for growth. It also plans to bring similar tech into Australia.

SmartPay (ASX:SMP) jumped 10% after confirming a takeover offer from NYSE-listed payments giant Shift4, valuing the Aussie-NZ EFTPOS provider at $274 million. The offer came in at NZ$1.20 per share, a juicy 46% premium to its 90-day average. Directors are backing the deal, which would see Smartpay swallowed into the Shift4 empire.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for June 23 :

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
GGE	Grand Gulf Energy	0.002	-33%	201,290	$8,461,275
PKO	Peako Limited	0.002	-33%	500,000	$4,463,226
SKN	Skin Elements Ltd	0.002	-33%	160,788	$3,225,642
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.002	-25%	162,000	$9,673,198
AGE	Alligator Energy	0.030	-25%	44,661,967	$154,943,974
BCB	Bowen Coal Limited	0.140	-22%	1,671,194	$19,396,360
ORP	Orpheus Uranium Ltd	0.022	-21%	10,708	$7,887,520
H2G	Greenhy2 Limited	0.015	-21%	2,339,556	$11,365,499
ADH	Adairs Limited	2.040	-21%	4,044,065	$455,994,533
AKG	Academies Aus Grp	0.100	-20%	216,171	$16,576,808
NME	Nex Metals Explorat	0.020	-20%	180,999	$8,352,645
ALM	Alma Metals Ltd	0.004	-20%	250,000	$7,931,727
ALR	Altairminerals	0.002	-20%	250,000	$10,741,860
FIN	FIN Resources Ltd	0.004	-20%	99,999	$3,474,442
VEN	Vintage Energy	0.004	-20%	10,000	$10,434,568
SNX	Sierra Nevada Gold	0.021	-19%	794,784	$4,281,137
ORN	Orion Minerals Ltd	0.009	-18%	4,169,917	$75,354,926
CAZ	Cazaly Resources	0.019	-17%	2,306,319	$10,609,969
AS2	Askarimetalslimited	0.005	-17%	161,500	$2,425,024
EAT	Entertainment	0.005	-17%	657,618	$7,852,716
ERL	Empire Resources	0.005	-17%	200,000	$8,903,479
ICR	Intelicare Holdings	0.005	-17%	781,904	$2,917,129
JAV	Javelin Minerals Ltd	0.003	-17%	1,852,944	$18,378,447
TON	Triton Min Ltd	0.005	-17%	50,000	$9,410,332
FAL	Falconmetalsltd	0.115	-15%	335,790	$23,895,000

Homewares and furniture retailer Adairs (ASX:ADH) tanked 22% after flagging weaker full-year earnings. Promotions may have boosted sales, but they’ve also crunched margins. The company expects EBIT to come in lower than last year, blaming intense discounting and a weaker Aussie dollar. Its furniture business is struggling the most.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Neurizon Therapeutics (ASX:NUZ) has reported encouraging new rodent preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) data for its lead candidate NUZ-001, showing it effectively crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB).

Zenith Minerals (ASX:ZNC) has upgraded resources at its Dulcie Far North project by 41% to 302,000oz of contained gold as part of a broader consolidation of the Dulcie project in WA.

Koonenberry Gold (ASX:KNB) has extended mineralisation at the Sunnyside prospect within the Enmore project in NSW, hitting 80.5m at 1.45g/t gold in the sixth hole of drilling.

Ausgold (ASX:AUC) has expanded the footprint of its Kulin project in WA after reaching a farm-in agreement to acquire a majority stake in an adjacent exploration licence highly prospective for gold.

Development at Hillgrove Resources’ (ASX:HGO) Nugent underground mine in South Australia is better than expected, resulting in the early intersection of the orebody and delivering first copper ore for processing.

LAST ORDERS

Sipa Resources (ASX:SRI) is taking its pick of drilling contractors for the Tunkillia North and Nuckulla Hill gold projects in South Australia after nabbing approvals for a Program for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation.

The PEPR is a requirement before any on-ground activities can begin on the projects – they’ll be focused on investigating historical gold mineralisation and testing targets to the north and south of the 1.6Moz Tunkillia gold deposit, held by Barton Gold.

Lumos Diagnostics (ASX:LDX) is $215,485 richer after bringing in a Research and Development Tax Incentive for the FY2024. The refund is attached to Lumos' ongoing research and development efforts.

The company is focused on enhancing its proprietary benchtop and disposable reader technology platform. It supports the detection of a broader range of clinical biomarkers, improves the interpretation of point-of-care test results, and allows for smooth integration with electronic medical records.

Aldoro Resources (ASX:ARN) has brought seasoned Chartered Accountant Mauro Piccini on board as a non-executive director. He has extensive expertise in ASX reporting, corporate advisory, and financial management with a background in publicly listed governance disciplines in addition to preliminary financial assessment.

Leeuwin Metals (ASX:LM1) has capped off a 3,000m drilling program at the Marda Central prospect of the Marda gold project, with assays due shortly.

The program was focused on extensions to shallow, high-grade mineralisation at the previously mined open pits at Python and Golden Orb, part of a greater 10,000m campaign planned for 2025.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Sipa Resources, Lumos Diagnostics, Aldoro Resources and Leeuwin Metals are Stockhead advertisers, 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 clobbered by war fears, but rising oil keeps it from falling harder