Rise and Shine: Everything you need to know before the ASX opens

Good morning, and Happy Wednesday! Here’s everything you need to keep an eye on before the ASX opens today.

"Mmmmf mmf mmmf mf mf mmmmf mmmf mfff!" Pic: Getty Images

Good morning everyone, and welcome to October 23 – an important date in the history of plastic surgery.

That’s because it was on this day in 1814 that England’s first-ever "nose job" was performed by Joseph Carpue, a skilled surgeon and anatomy fanatic who had read about the procedure being done in India, and felt like having a crack at it himself.

Carpue’s patient was an unnamed army officer (he had a name… but no one bothered to write it down when he had the surgery) whose nose had basically fallen off, a result of long-term mercury sniffing prescribed to him to battle a liver complaint, because medicine back then was not well understood.

The interesting thing about the procedure – which was performed by taking flaps of skin from the patient’s cheeks to reconstruct the nose entirely without anaesthesia – was that it had been quite common in India for hundreds of years prior.

According to rhinoplasty historians, the procedure first appears in literature back around the 6th Century CE, because it had been fashionable then to cut someone's nose off if they did something immoral.

The procedure had been imported into Europe well before Carpue decided to try his hand at it, cropping up in Italy during the mid 1500s thanks to  Bolognese surgeon Gaspare Tagliacozzi.

Anyway, Carpue made his patient a new nose in about 20 minutes of frantic, scream-riddled surgical work, and by all accounts it was enough to leave his patient quite happy with the result.

Luckily, you won’t have to have your face rearranged without any painkillers in order to get your hands on good pre-market info today.

That’s because – as always – we’ve worked super-hard to gather together lots of fiddly little things below, so you don’t need to go ferreting all over the internet for your ASX info this morning.

COMMODITY/FOREX/CRYPTO MARKET PRICES

Gold: $US2735.40/oz (+0.57 per cent)

Silver: $US34.14/oz (+1.07 per cent)

Iron Ore: $US101.60/t (-0.20 per cent)

Nickel (3mth): $US16,713/t (-0.38 per cent)

Copper (3mth): $US9420/t (-0.87 per cent)

Zinc: $US3,122/t (+1.33 per cent)

Oil (WTI): $US69.86/bbl (-0.85 per cent)

Oil (Brent): $US74.07/bbl (flat)

AUD/USD: 0.6684 (+0.45 per cent)

Bitcoin: $US66,987 (-2.18 per cent)

WHAT GOT YOU TALKING

Record gold prices are sparking a new gold rush in the west. Here’s Josh Chiat’s look at why the lure of $4000/oz shiny stuff has prospectors packing up and heading for WA.

"Dirt flying in every direction": With record prices, gold fever is firing up prospecting in WA's Goldfields. https://t.co/2ErWnvZaNR

— Stockhead (@StockheadAU) October 22, 2024

TUESDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LEADERS

Here are the best-performing ASX small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.002	100%	9,977,361	$4,497,970
PRX	Prodigy Gold NL	0.004	75%	96,617,579	$4,664,912
MTB	Mount Burgess Mining	0.002	50%	500,000	$1,298,147
PUA	Peak Minerals Ltd	0.007	40%	48,117,351	$12,485,551
NVU	Nanoveu Limited	0.066	38%	70,339,736	$24,236,289
ENT	Enterprise Metals	0.004	33%	819,874	$3,534,952
SIS	Simble Solutions	0.004	33%	450,000	$2,260,352
SLZ	Sultan Resources Ltd	0.008	33%	6,366,273	$1,185,519
TX3	Trinex Minerals Ltd	0.002	33%	750,000	$2,742,978
MM1	Midasmineralsltd	0.105	31%	153,502	$8,282,374
MME	Moneyme Limited	0.138	25%	2,641,222	$88,008,632
ERA	Energy Resources	0.005	25%	14,182,743	$88,593,197
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.003	25%	3,144,387	$13,533,183
TMK	TMK Energy Limited	0.003	25%	858,699	$15,183,224
TZN	Terramin Australia	0.100	23%	3,206,306	$171,441,580
AQI	Alicanto Min Ltd	0.032	23%	5,242,657	$19,451,717
PLT	Plenti Group Limited	0.800	23%	476,937	$113,958,885
EOF	Ecofibre Limited	0.049	23%	229,423	$15,154,956
NOU	Noumi Limited	0.290	21%	707,309	$66,506,237
ARD	Argent Minerals	0.027	20%	30,091,115	$31,766,365
FHS	Freehill Mining Ltd.	0.006	20%	1,000,000	$15,392,639
GTI	Gratifii	0.006	20%	3,251,643	$10,745,981
SNG	Siren Gold	0.130	18%	3,986,853	$22,789,128

Tuesday’s small cap winners included:

Prodigy Gold (ASX:PRX) was up on news that it had received “excellent” results for the reverse circulation drilling program completed during September at the Hyperion gold deposit, where it found intercepts such as 25m @ 2.2g/t Au from 66m, 15m @ 3.1g/t Au from 152m and 15m @ 2.1g/t Au from 48m.

Nanoveu (ASX:NVU) improved on news that its takeover target, EMASS, had completed benchmark testing for its ECS-DOT SoC (System on Chip) chipset, achieving 20x lower energy consumption compared to peers, and “setting a new benchmark for ultra-low power performance in edge AI applications”. Nanoveu is currently in the process of acquiring 100 per cent of EMASS, subject to shareholder approval.

MONEYME (ASX:MME) lifted on news it had executed its first asset-backed securities deal in the auto asset class, with the MME Autopay ABS 2024-1 Trust – the second ABS transaction in FY25 and the largest term securitisation deal to date for the company. The Aaa (sf) and AAA (sf) credit ratings for the Class A1 and Commission notes represent 72.4 per cent of the collateralised notes, “reflecting strong credit quality and performance of the Autopay loans,” says MoneyME boss Clayton Howes.

Siren Gold (ASX:SNG) was rising on news that an Ionic Leach soil sampling program at Auld Creek had revealed that the gold and antimony mineralisation previously announced by the company extended for at least 1.5km and was open to the north and south. The ionic leach anomalies are coincident with two parallel conductive anomalies 100m apart that extend for 1.5km and are also open to the north and south.

Gratifii (ASX:GTI) was up after releasing a positive quarterly report , showing 1Q FY25 cash receipts of $8.31 million, an increase of 32.7 per cent over previous quarter and 14.4 per cent over previous corresponding quarter. That’s put the company in a cashflow positive position, improving by about $1.1 million from 4Q FY24 supported by the increase in cash receipts and reduced investment in inventory.

Plenti Group (ASX:PLT) climbed after the company announced unaudited 1H25 Cash NPAT of $5.5 million, which is a massive increase of 260 per cent on PCP. The company says  its loan portfolio has increased to $2.28 billion, 14 per cent above PCP and 3 per cent above prior quarter alongside loan originations of $323.3 million, 11 per cent above PCP and 7 per cent above prior quarter.

Black Dragon Gold (ASX:BDG) was rising on no news, and was suspended by the ASX about 10 minutes before 1pm.

MRG Metals (ASX:MRQ) was up on news that Fotinho exploration licence 11000 had been granted over a newly identified, high potential 19,865.18 ha thorium and rare earth element (REE) district in Mozambique, where historical exploration showed the presence of monazite and highly elevated Th and REE grades, with Th assays >1000 ppm in soil and panned heavy mineral concentrate and 559 ppm in rock.

TUESDAY’S ASX SMALL CAP LAGGARDS

Here are the worst-performing ASX small cap stocks:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
AFA	ASF Group Limited	0.020	-33%	35,000	$23,771,926
CHM	Chimeric Therapeutic	0.010	-32%	18,842,165	$12,672,098
DOU	Douugh Limited	0.009	-31%	10,786,472	$14,066,896
NXS	Next Science Limited	0.135	-31%	2,998,063	$56,971,246
BPM	BPM Minerals	0.085	-29%	5,148,174	$10,064,666
YAR	Yari Minerals Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,169,845	$1,929,431
NSM	Northstaw	0.015	-25%	2,853,029	$5,453,530
CRR	Critical Resources	0.007	-22%	828,717	$17,673,153
AS1	Asara Resources Ltd	0.021	-22%	2,218,135	$26,909,828
BEO	Beonic Ltd	0.028	-20%	1,642,746	$22,256,926
TFL	Tasfoods Ltd	0.012	-20%	110,840	$6,556,433
DBO	Diabloresources	0.020	-20%	504,116	$2,576,786
AKN	Auking Mining Ltd	0.004	-20%	1,545,076	$1,835,323
AMD	Arrow Minerals	0.002	-20%	12,772,010	$32,559,069
AMM	Armada Metals	0.009	-18%	817,374	$2,288,000
FSG	Field Solu Hldgs Ltd	0.018	-18%	425,318	$17,015,780
IS3	I Synergy Group Ltd	0.005	-17%	774,335	$2,137,307
ODE	Odessa Minerals Ltd	0.005	-17%	5,973,190	$7,609,695
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.023	-15%	75,219,524	$42,021,405
ACM	Aus Critical Mineral	0.082	-15%	113,193	$3,391,320
ILA	Island Pharma	0.150	-14%	529,373	$26,994,689

TRADING HALTS

BPH Global (ASX:BP8) – pending an announcement in relation to a proposed acquisition.

Lotus Resources (ASX:LOT) – pending an announcement regarding a capital raise.

Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR) – pending the release of an announcement to the market regarding a capital raise.

Tolu Minerals (ASX:TOK) – pending an announcement in relation to an equity raising by way of a placement.

Reward Minerals (ASX:RWD) – pending the release of an announcement in relation to a capital raising.

Beam Communications (ASX:BCC) – pending an announcement in respect to the unsuccessful outcome of the arbitration relating to the ZOLEO Inc. joint venture between the company and its joint venture partner.

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.