Tech stocks gain on Wall Street

US stocks were mixed overnight, but investors’ appetite were mainly focused on the tech sector.

The Dow Jones retreated 0.17% , but the S&P 500 was up 0.34%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 0.45%.

Megatech stocks like Alphabet, Amazon, and Facebook all rallied.

Chipmaker Nvidia surged 8% after beating estimates on top and bottom lines for the quarter, and forecasting a bullish outlook.

According to a Bloomberg report, Apple is aiming to launch a self-driving vehicle by 2025, and has now finished most of the core work on the car’s processor.

In other markets, oil prices were higher by 1%, while spot iron price tumbled 3% overnight.

Bitcoin has had a mini crash, trading at US$58,100 at 8am AEDT, from US$59,900 yesterday.

At the time of writing, the entire crypto market cap is down 2.6% since yesterday and, according to CoinGecko data, trying to hang on to about US$2.68 trillion, give or take a few hundred billion.

In a speech yesterday, RBA’s head of payments Tony Richards warned that cryptos could crash when central banks around the world decide to assert control and issue their own digital currencies (he’s also a Bitcoin hodler).

ASX 200 to open higher on Friday

The ASX 200 looks set to open slightly higher this morning, with futures markets (December contracts) pointing up by 0.10% at 8:30am AEDT.

Local stocks rose on Thursday, as the ASX 200 closed up by 0.13% following two days of losses.

Banking stocks fell again after getting hammered on Wednesday, while money moved back into big-name gold stocks as inflation jitters continue to linger in the background.

According to the ASX website, these companies will make their IPO debut on the bourse today:

Cadence Opportunities Fund (ASX:CDO), an investment company that raised $25m at $2.77.

Cooper Metals (ASX:CPM). The company explores copper and gold deposits in Queensland and Western Australia. It raised $.4.8m at 20c.

Ventia Services (ASX:VNT), an essential services provider in Australia and New Zealand. Ventia was created in 2015 following the merger three companies. It raised $30m at $2.75.

 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

My Food Bag (ASX:MFB)
The online food delivery company achieved record earnings for the quarter, and has confirmed maiden dividends. MFB’s bottom line NPAT was $9.4 million, up 24.6% on H1 FY21.

Deep Yellow (ASX:DYL)
The uranium explorer has submitted a proposal to acquire Vimy Resources (ASX:VMY). Deep Yellow says the proposed merger would deliver value for all shareholders, and represents the first step in Deep Yellow’s ambitions of building a tier-1 uranium platform.

Immutep (ASX:IMM)
The biotech company has successfully completed patient recruitment for the Phase II TACTI-002 study of LAG-3 therapy, Eftilagimod Alpha. A total of 185 patients are now participating in the study across clinical sites in Australia, Europe and the US. First results are expected to be released in the first half of CY 2022.

X2M Connect (ASX:X2M)
The IoT company has continued its South Korean growth with another significant tender win worth approximately $2.6m. The contract is with Korea Water Resources, where X2M will fit 20,278 households with remote water metering.

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV)
The company announced exceptional results from step-out exploration drilling at Crosscut that is outside any previous resource shell. Results include 22m @ 2.23g/t Au, 1.39% Cu, 0.457% Co from 247m.