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Trending stories and market-moving news from the ASX small-cap sector

Gold’s Glitter Dims, But Analysts Say the Shine Isn’t Gone Yet
Gold has hit a rough patch this month, but leading analysts believe the weakness is only temporary, with Goldman Sachs seeing the recent dip as more of a short-term correction than the beginning of a prolonged downturn.
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Why China’s Lithium Rally Could Be the Turning Point, and What it Means for Australian Lithium
China’s lithium carbonate futures ripped to their highest levels since June 2024 in mid–late November, capping a >17% month rally and briefly hitting the daily limit up.

Want to Play Games with Your Super Fund?
What would help you to engage more with your superannuation fund? Would a rash of emails do the trick, some good retirement calculators on the website or perhaps direct contact from an actual person asking if you need advice about your super?

Banking Competition Ramping Up As Big Four Falter
It may have escaped your notice, but there is a quiet war going on in Australia’s banking system, growing signs that the old order is slowly passing away and competition is hotting up.
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Wrap: Four months of gains wiped out in $37 billion rout
A combination of increasing doubts about interest rate cuts, worries about AI overvaluation and a share crunch on Wall Street combined to strip four months of growth off the Australian share market.

Good News and Bad News About Aussie Superannuation
When it comes to Australia’s $4.3 trillion superannuation system, there are some things going particularly well, and others not so well.

How to Snag an ASX Bargain
One of the best ways to score a bargain when shopping is to trawl through the bargain bins and sales items to find something of good quality selling much cheaper than normal. Take Australian Foundation Investment Company (ASX: AFI), for example.

Weekly Wrap: Is this the end of rate cuts? ASX tumbles as banks slide
Some heavy losses in the banking sector saw the Australian share market record its second consecutive weekly loss as the prospect of no further interest rate falls began to sink in. With the Reserve Bank deciding to hold the cash rate steady during the week the ASX 200 index dropped 58.6 points, or 0.7% on Friday to 8769.7 points. It was an uneven and concentrated fall with six out of the 11 sectors remaining in positive territory but the index still fell 1% for the week.

Big M&A is Back and the Next Wave Should Hit Mid-Caps and Small-Caps
After a long pause, global dealmaking has snapped back to life. Boardrooms are leaning into acquisitions, carve-outs, and take-privates as equity markets sit near highs, financing re-opens, and regulators in key jurisdictions signal a more permissive stance.

Canada Unlocks 26 New Measures To Fast-Track Critical Minerals Supply Chains
Canada has fired the starter’s gun on a new phase of ally-led critical minerals development, unveiling the first slate of projects under its G7-backed Critical Minerals Production Alliance.

US–China Trade Deal Pauses Rare-Earth Controls, Trims Tariffs: What it means for critical minerals and markets
The White House has outlined a US–China trade and economic framework reached in Seoul between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping.

Death Taxes Do Happen in Australia
The old saying used to be that there's nothing certain about life than death and taxes, and things get really interesting and somewhat complex when you combine the two in the form of death taxes.