Benzinga's Microcap Movers for Wednesday June 27, 2012

Below are highlights from Benzinga's daily coverage of small cap and microcap securities making big moves: ECOtality Shares of ECOtality ECTY, the San Francisco, CA green energy company, rose 34.94% Wednesday on 3 times the average daily volume. ECOtality has joined forces with Changchun Eco-Power Technology Co., Ltd. to address China's recently adopted '12th Five-Year Plan' for developing the nation's EV industry. To encourage the mass market adoption of EVs, the new plan calls for establishing a network of 2,000 charging stations with 400,000 EV chargers in more than 20 pilot cities across China by 2015. The partners have established a new joint venture entity, Tianjin Eco-Power Technology Co, Ltd., which will manufacture and distribute ECOtality charging products for a range of EVs, including two and three-wheel vehicles, buses, material handling equipment, and airport ground support--all specifically designed for the regional marketplace. Operations will involve a new assembly facility established in Tianjin. "China is rapidly expanding its leadership position in the electric vehicle market by implementing fleets and public transit applications that require high-power charging solutions like ECOtality produces," said Jonathan Read, CEO of ECOtality, Inc. "Forming this joint venture with the highly capable management team of Changchun Eco-Power allows us to immediately address this tremendous greenfield opportunity." ECOtality closed at $0.56 on Wednesday. Nanosphere Corporation Shares of Nanosphere NSPH, the Northbrook, IL diagnostics company, rose 21.47% Wednesday on 17 times the average daily volume. Nanosphere announced Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted a de novo petition permitting marketing of its Gram-Positive Blood Culture Nucleic Acid Test on the automated sample-to-result Verigene System. The BC-GP test notably expands Nanosphere's infectious disease test capabilities to include fast detection of bacteria that can cause deadly bloodstream infections, an increasingly recognized health threat. Nanosphere closed at $2.32 on Wednesday. Quaterra Resources Shares of Quaterra Resources QMM, the Canadian mineral exploration comapany, rose 13.22% Wednesday on almost 3 times the average daily volume. Quaterra Resources and 50% joint-venture partner Blackberry Ventures 1, LLC, announced Wednesday that an updated independent resource estimate has substantially increased contained silver ounces at their Nieves property in northern Zacatecas, Mexico. The NI 43-101-compliant resource was completed by Caracle Creek International Consulting Inc. of Toronto, Canada, and supersedes a previous resource estimate released in August 2010. Nieves' updated indicated resource of 33.04 million tonnes averaging 50.1 g/t silver (1.61 oz/ton) contains 53.22 million ounces of silver at a base case cutoff grade of 15 grams. The new resource represents a 328% increase in tonnes, a 194% increase in contained silver ounces and a 31.2% decrease in grade compared with the previous August 2010 estimate. The inferred resources at La Quinta and North total over 58.0 million tonnes averaging 30.4 g/t silver (0.98 oz/ton) containing an additional 56.7 million ounces of silver. This is a 20.4% increase in tonnes, a 15.3% decrease in contained silver ounces and a 29.5% decrease in grade. Quaterra Resources closed at $0.43 on Wednesday. The information in this article is taken from public sources, press releases, and websites that cannot always be verified. Please note that investing in microcap stocks is highly speculative. The companies mentioned here are for information purposes only. Benzinga makes no claim as to the suitability of these stocks as an investment. Neither Benzinga nor its staff recommend that you buy, sell, or hold any security. We do not offer investment advice, personalized or otherwise. Benzinga recommends that you conduct your own due diligence and consult a certified financial professional for personalized advice about your financial situation.