ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: No rest for ASX on Labour Day as benchmark inches higher

The ASX has edged higher by more than 0.5% at midday on Monday, with banks leading the way and Arcadium Lithium turning heads.

Pic via Getty Images

• Long weekend? Not for the local bourse 

• ASX 200 inches up more than 0.5% at lunch time 

• Arcadium Lithium turns heads on Rio Tinto interest

The ASX edged higher by more than 0.5% at midday on Monday, with banks leading the way, while investors remained cautious about escalating conflicts in the Middle East and the potential impact on oil supply.

Among the 11 sectors, seven showed gains, with financials and technology leading the pack.

Source: Market Index

Arcadium Lithium (ASX:LTM) was the standout performer, soaring 44% after Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) confirmed it was in talks for a takeover.

This marked Arcadium’s largest one-day gain since its formation in January from the merger of Allkem and Livent, while Rio Tinto dipped 1%.Energy stocks slipped as oil prices eased after a 10% rally last week.

On the mining front, heavyweights BHP (ASX:BHP) and Fortescue (ASX:FMG) gained, buoyed by a 2% rise in iron ore futures in Singapore today following the reopening of China’s share market after a week-long holiday.

Meanwhile, BMI, part of Fitch Solutions, has released its updated outlook for nickel prices.BMI has lowered its nickel price forecast for 2024 from US$18,000 to US$17,300 per tonne due to a significant surplus in the market.

This downgrade, BMI said, is largely expected because of increased global refined nickel production, particularly from Indonesia and mainland China.

In other stocks news, Pro Medicus (ASX:PME) rallied 2% after securing an 8-year contract renewal worth at least $98 million with Mercy Health, covering the Visage 7 Viewer and Visage 7 Open Archive. The renewal includes a higher per transaction fee.

NOT THE ASX

On Friday, a blowout jobs report in the US suggested robust health of the US labour market, boosting stocks and hitting bonds.

The S&P500 rose by 0.90%, the blue chips Dow Jones was up by 0.81% to a new record, and the tech heavy Nasdaq surged by 1.22%.

The payroll report showed the US added 254,000 jobs in September, far exceeding expectations by over 100,000. Also, the US unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.1%.

“With the Fed already starting to reduce rates, that’s going to take further pressure off the economy. A soft landing is our base case going forward,” said Matthew Bush at Guggenheim Investments.

In stocks news, Boeing rose by 3% after its joint venture with Lockheed Martin and United Launch Alliance successfully completed the second launch of its new Vulcan rocket.

Boeing and Lockheed are competing against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to become the US government’s preferred contractor for national security space missions.

The US Space Force has recently selected these three companies to bid for contracts worth US$5.6 billion from 2025 to 2029.
Investors eager to see that Tesla is more than just a car company will get a reality check on Thursday, October 10, when the company plans to unveil its ambitious robotaxi concept vehicle at Robotaxi Day.

“We continue to believe Tesla is the most undervalued AI name in the market, and we expect Musk & Co. to unveil some ‘game changing’ autonomous technology at this event,” said Tesla bull analyst, Dan Ives.

Shares in another electric vehicle manufacturer, Rivian, dropped as much as 7% after the company reduced its production forecast for the year and missed delivery expectations.

Meanwhile, Spirit Airlines plummeted 25% amid reports that the budget airline may be close to bankruptcy.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Spirit has been negotiating with bondholders about a possible bankruptcy filing. Bloomberg added that talks to secure a rescue deal to restructure its debt have stalled.

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for October 7 :

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Name	Price	% Change	Volume	Market Cap
RHY	Rhythm Biosciences	0.12	58%	4,158,856	$18,893,353
KM1	Kali Metals	0.18	50%	757,878	$9,219,315
SI6	SI6 Metals Limited	0.0015	50%	100,000	$2,368,859
LTM	Arcadium Lithium PLC	6.01	44%	6,984,622	$1,441,850,132
CR9	Corellares	0.012	33%	512,324	$4,185,832
GLN	Galan Lithium Ltd	0.145	26%	6,151,274	$68,547,402
WC8	Wildcat Resources	0.3275	26%	6,389,283	$319,556,717
MEL	Metgasco Ltd	0.005	25%	4,000,000	$5,830,347
CC9	Chariot Corporation	0.21	24%	281,558	$15,236,736
MX1	Micro-X Limited	0.073	22%	323,073	$34,896,226
CZN	Corazon Ltd	0.006	20%	852,730	$3,339,528
FTC	Fintech Chain Ltd	0.006	20%	178,651	$3,253,848
SFG	Seafarms Group Ltd	0.003	20%	170,786	$12,091,498
HVY	Heavy Minerals	0.125	19%	237,227	$7,039,577
NMR	Native Mineral Resources	0.026	18%	996,000	$8,764,209
EV1	Evolution Energy	0.04	18%	600,678	$12,259,283
G11	G11 Resources Ltd	0.02	18%	8,050,702	$15,837,576
BRN	Brainchip Ltd	0.27	17%	11,937,397	$451,367,634
BMO	Bastion Minerals	0.007	17%	587,346	$3,086,205
CMD	Cassius Mining Ltd	0.007	17%	1,400,000	$3,252,027
PL3	Patagonia Lithium	0.1	16%	1,149	$4,325,224
AQC	Auspac Coal Ltd	0.145	16%	1,734,928	$66,725,116
PLL	Piedmont Lithium Inc	0.1675	16%	1,787,581	$59,512,640
DGR	DGR Global Ltd	0.015	15%	199,999	$13,568,015
AOK	Australian Oil.	0.004	14%	219,000	$3,306,240

Arcadium Lithium (ASX:LTM) shares have caught a rocket on the back of confirmation by Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) that the big gun has made an approach to acquire Arcadium – one of the few producers to have rolled out direct lithium extraction at its El Fenix site on Argentina’s Hombre Muerto Salar.

Murmurs about a potential take-over have been circling around the traps since a report in The Australian’s Dataroom column highlighted Arcadium and Albemarle as possible takeover targets for Rio, which has a number of early-stage lithium projects but is said to be keen on the takeover of a big producer now that valuations have come down from their insane 2023 highs.

Rio is testing a form of its own DLE technology at the Rincon brine project, where a US$335 million pilot project with a 3000tpa LCE capacity is set to be completed this year.

Rhythm Biosciences (ASX:RHY) , a predictive cancer diagnostics technology company, is also shooting up the bourse today, having announced it's received the first batch of the 'Alpha' version of multiplex antibody detection kits developed and manufactured by the Company’s CMO, Quansys Biosciences, in the USA.

Meanwhile, Kali Metals (ASX:KM1) has expanded its JV with Chilean lithium giant SQM, adding two new tenements: DOM’s Hill and Pear Creek.

Kali is acquiring the new DOM’s Hill tenements from major shareholder Kalamazoo Resources (ASX:KZR) for a cash consideration of $100,000, while the Peak Creek tenement is being snapped up from KZR for just $20,000.

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the most-worst performing ASX small cap stocks for October 7 :

Swipe or scroll to reveal full table. Click headings to sort:

Code	Company	Price	%	Volume	Market Cap
1TT	Thrive Tribe Tech	0.001	-50%	402,467	$1,223,243.04
BCB	Bowen Coal Limited	0.0075	-38%	201,261,403	$35,165,876.44
MBK	Metal Bank Ltd	0.019	-30%	162,168	$10,542,400.86
ATH	Alterity Therapeutics	0.003	-25%	1,897,478	$21,281,344.47
IVX	Invion Ltd	0.003	-25%	1,471	$27,066,366.68
MHC	Manhattan Corp Ltd	0.0015	-25%	1,200,000	$6,185,066.68
OVT	Ovanti Limited	0.003	-25%	634,627	$6,225,393.37
RNE	Renu Energy Ltd	0.0015	-25%	63,449	$1,608,268.00
AVE	Avecho Biotech Ltd	0.002	-20%	14,670,166	$7,923,242.53
VML	Vital Metals Limited	0.002	-20%	559,991	$14,737,667.38
AQD	Ausquest Limited	0.009	-18%	2,051,581	$9,087,641.45
WAF	West African Res Ltd	1.375	-17%	12,673,128	$1,895,033,021.72
RR1	Reach Resources Ltd	0.012	-17%	3,534,710	$12,679,254.56
AL8	Alderan Resource Ltd	0.003	-14%	250,000	$5,499,371.28
MRQ	MRG Metals Limited	0.003	-14%	468,714	$9,490,315.19
SRN	Surefire Rescs NL	0.006	-14%	1,367,228	$13,904,154.69
TEG	Triangle Energy Ltd	0.006	-14%	81,751	$14,560,938.19
CVR	Cavalier Resources	0.13	-13%	7,307	$6,507,249.90
CAN	Cann Group Ltd	0.06	-13%	2,316,648	$32,337,987.33
POS	Poseidon Nick Ltd	0.0035	-13%	343,807	$16,815,501.97
5EA	5Eadvanced	0.105	-13%	380,293	$39,968,986.80
IBX	Imagion Biosys Ltd	0.035	-13%	149,820	$1,425,862.04
SUM	Summit Minerals	0.21	-13%	1,174,747	$20,238,717.12
EMD	Emyria Limited	0.029	-12%	53,573	$13,707,850.07
M24	Mamba Exploration	0.0115	-12%	200,000	$2,445,069.59

Originally published as ASX Small Caps Lunch Wrap: No rest for ASX on Labour Day as benchmark inches higher