Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Friday

US stocks rally, Russian MOEX swings wildly on reopening

Wall Street rallied overnight, with all three major indexes finishing higher – the S&P 500 by 1.43%, the Dow by 1.02%, and the tech heavy Nasdaq by 1.93%.

Major tech stocks like Apple, Meta all rebounded. Chipmaker Nvidia soared 10% and was the biggest gainer, after telling investors it would use cash to expand the business rather than a buy-back.

US President Biden is currently in Europe as he met with NATO and EU leaders. Sources have reported that new sanctions on Russian energy could be announced as early today (EU time).

The Russian stock market meanwhile reopened overnight with stocks gyrating wildly, with the Moex index finally closing 4% higher.

Only 33 stocks were allowed to be traded, and all major oil stocks like Gazprom and Rosneft surged by more than 10%.

Brent crude has softened to US$118 a barrel, but the Aussie dollar is now trading above US75c.

To cryptos, where Bitcoin saw a rally and at 8.20am AEDT, was trading at US$43,900.

Australia’s most successful crypto founder says he was blindsided by the rise of competing layer 1 smart contract platforms such as Avalanche and Solana.

Read the rest of that story here on Coinhead.

ASX to rise this morning

The ASX 200 is set to open higher at the open, with the April futures pointing by 1% higher at 8.30am AEDT.

Yesterday, local blue chips recovered early losses and closed the day 0.20% higher, cushioned by broad-based rallies in Energy and Mining stocks.

Later today and if all goes to plan, Pathify Holdings (ASX:PTH) will join the ASX.

The tertiary education student online portal service provider has complete mobile/web parity with a native mobile app that allows for mobile push notifications. Institutions are charged an annual licence fee based on student enrolment, the modules they subscribe for and the access they activate.

The company is focused on the US market. It raised $10m at $0.40.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

HITIQ Ltd (ASX:HIQ)
The brain focused medtech company has entered into a trial agreement with the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB). HITIQ’s smart mouthguard technology will be deployed into the Men’s National and U18s Programs, and will be used in the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championships.

Camplify Holdings (ASX:CHL)
The recreational vehicle marketplace said the acquisition of Mighway and SHAREaCAMPER from Tourism Holdings Limited has received clearance from the New Zealand Commerce Commission. The transaction is worth up to $7.37m, paid in CHL shares.

Peregrine (ASX:PGD)
Stream sediment sampling from the recently acquired Pilgangoora North Lithium Project has returned up to 289ppm lithium in a catchment, with no reported pegmatite veining. A second stream sediment sample returned up to 1768ppm tantalum.

Monger Gold (ASX:MMG)
Diamond drilling at Providence Mt Monger North is currently underway. Results from one metre samples from the recent RC drilling campaign have returned: [email protected]/t from 89m; including [email protected]/t from 93m.

Musgrave Minerals (ASX:MGV)
RC drilling delivers further strong gold results at the Amarillo Prospect at Cue, including: 7m @ 23.7g/t Au from 102m; including 1m @ 118g/t Au from 107m.