One of the characteristics of all the great bull runs in stocks and markets, is that by the time the meat of the rally arrives, most traders / investors are not involved. Most of them are tired out in the early base building, and then take a modest profit too soon. This was certainly the case with Argo Blockchain (ARB) to start this year, and with the likes of Eurasia Mining (EUA) in 2020.
It could be that one of the most painful examples of the one that got away proves to be edtech play Dev Clever (DEV). It closed at a new all time high of 19p, up – as the stock re-rates in the middle of a home-schooling lockdown, and in the wake of the 5 year deal with Veative to roll out its platform in India.
Sticking with the tech stock space, and it was the turn of another of 2020’s heroes to make a new all time high. All Active Asset Capital (AAA) added 8% to reach 17.4p as compared to around 0.1p this time last year. The latest rally for the stock has come in the wake of last month’s news that MESH had increased its stake in Sentiance – a behavioural / AI company with Fortune 500 clients. Through a convertible loan to MESH, AAA exposure to Sentiance, a company which has been described as having unicorn potential.
There was the understandable cries of “it is all over” as far as cryptocurrencies to start the week, helped along by a classic contrarian warning from the FCA regarding punters potentially losing everything on trading in the space. With a decent rally the within 24 hours of the warning, it might be said that the FCA should stick to the day job, or perhaps not. In the meantime, the London stock market’s favourite crypto miner, Argo Blockchain (ARB) jumped 6% to close back above 100p. Even better, Argo said that the recent share price rise, versus warrant and options exercised at 16p netted £413,000 to the company.
After what has seemed like an eternity, it seemed safe to say that the logjam in shares of Kibo Energy (KIBO) finally broke. The result for the Africa focused group was a 34% share price rise, through recent strong resistance in the 0.3p. Among the multiple plus points cited by the bulls in favour of Kibo are the way we are in the run up to the Mast Energy IPO later in Q1 2021, a 29% stake in Katoro Gold (KAT), and a NAV of some £28m versus the present market cap of less than £5m.
Another stock which has been given a lowly rating by the stock market is NQ Minerals (NQM), the Aquis listed, base and precious metals producer offering its 2020 year end operations update. With the Australia based company trading on a forward p/e of close to 1, and an NPV on its flagship Hellyer Project alone at $137.8m versus the current market cap for NQ Minerals as a whole sub £30m, the shares remain in the bargain basement. This is despite news regarding a move to a “Tier 1 exchange” now imminent. NQ said as far as production was concerned as compared to 2019, Lead concentrates were up 53%, Zinc concentrates up 22%, payable gross gold production for 2020 was 5,452 ounces and payable gross silver production was 1,106,440 ounces.
Sticking with the mining space, and there was an update from copper-gold mining group Xtract Resources (XTR), where its foray in Australia seems to have captured the imagination of investors. The latest announcement was greeted with a 15% share price rise as the company Xtract Resources provided a further update on the Phase One drilling programme at the Racecourse Mineral Resource on the Bushranger copper-gold exploration project located in the Lachlan Fold Belt, New South Wales, Australia. Xtract said that drilling recommenced on 7 January 2021 after a short break over the Christmas – New Year holidays.
One of the best stock market performers of the mining sector last year was Wishbone Gold (WSBN). It was updating the market to start 2021 with respect to its Red Setter Project. The precious metals trading and exploration company, said that further to last week’s RNS, MagSpec Airborne Surveys have commenced the close spaced high resolution aerial magnetic and radiometric survey on its Red Setter Project, in the Paterson Ranges in Western Australia. The survey will cover a total of 666 line km.
Controversy magnet, and wannabe anti-viral mask producer, Remote Monitored Systems (RMS) saw its shares rebound after a shaky start. This was provided by an overnight announcement of a director share sale to the tune of 24,000,000 shares at 2.7p. As a show of karma the shares closed just above the exit price at 2.75p, after an initial 10% sell off / shakeout.
Finally, the market seemed to be giving the benefit of the doubt – after a rather heft share price fall, to commercial stage pharmaceutical company, Shield Therapeutics (STX). The stock bounced back 12% after last week’s confession that the company has been unable to secure a commercial partner for Accrufer in the US, and while it makes sense to go it alone certain working capital requirements would need to be secured.
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