♟️ Saturday 28 February 2026 Sat, 28 Feb 2026

Small caps stole the week, led by a big funding deal in gold and two revenue breakouts. Meanwhile, some well-known names slid after profit updates failed to calm nerves on costs and outlooks.

Big swings hit ASX financials this week as profit updates, takeover votes and cost cuts drove fast re-pricing. The winners paid (or promised) cash. The laggards spooked investors with losses, restructures or shaky earnings outlooks.

Rare earths and gold dominated the tape, with one small-cap rare earth explorer ripping more than 70% on a single drilling headline. Gold producers, meanwhile, kept turning high bullion prices into dividends, buy-backs and bigger balance sheets.

Cannabis and psychedelics delivered the week’s biggest winner, while a cluster of smaller caps slid on fresh losses, leadership change, and near-term uncertainty. Investors kept paying up for FDA clearances and reimbursement wins, but punished businesses where early pops quickly disappeared.

One microcap exploded higher on a tiny capital raise, while several software names were sold hard despite reporting growth. The week split cleanly between “cash in the bank” stories and “still burning cash” worries.