Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Friday

ASX to open lower on Friday
US stocks fell again overnight
MyDeal acquired by Woolworths

ASX to open lower on Friday

Aussie shares are set to dip at the open after US sharemarkets fell overnight. At 8am AEDT, the June ASX 200 futures index is pointing down by 0.13%.

Following the worst one-day loss for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones since June 2020 on Wednesday, US investors have continued to weigh the possibility of a faster Fed hike pace against the backdrop of higher inflation.

At Thursday’s close, all three major US stock indexes, S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq, fell again, by less than 1%.

“The market is fearful of the next six months. We may find out that it doesn’t need to be as fearful as this, and markets do tend to overreact on the downside,” Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi told Reuters.

The biggest movers were Cisco, which fell by almost 14% after lowering its full-year revenue growth forecast. And Under Armour, which fell by 12% after CEO Patrik Frisk resigned unexpectedly.

US 10-year Treasury yields fell 4bp (bond prices up), as investors seek a safer haven against stock market volatilities.

Fed Chairman’s Powell hawkish comments on Wednesday didn’t help, when he said the Fed would keep “pushing” until inflation declines.

“What we need to see is inflation coming down in a clear and convincing way, and we’re going to keep pushing until we see that,” Powell told a Wall Street Journal event on Tuesday.

“If we don’t see that, we will have to consider moving more aggressively” to tighten financial conditions, he added.

Meanwhile, global oil prices rose by around 2.5% overnight, with the benchmark Brent crude now trading at US$111.45 a barrel.

It’s been a wild ride for crude over the past week, as the market reacts to all sorts of news such as China’s ease of lockdowns, and Biden’s attempt to shore up output from Venezuela.

To cryptos, where Bitcoin has rallied by 5% and was changing hands at US$30,090 at 8.30am AEDT. Cyrpto exchange Coinbase said it was slowing hiring and reassessing its headcount after the recent turmoil in the market.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

MyDeal.com.au (ASX:MYD)
MyDeal has entered into a binding deal with Woolworths under which Woolworths will acquire a controlling interest in MyDeal, and MyDeal will be de-listed from the ASX. It will be an all cash deal at $1.05, which represents a premium of 62.8% to Thursday’s closing price of 65c.

Countplus (ASX:CUP)
The financial services company has a new CEO, Hugh Humphrey. The company says that Humphrey will brings key attributes of vision and strategic growth experience in the sector, and will lead Countplus to the next phase of its growth.

Oceania Healthcare (ASX:OCA)
Healthcare network Oceania reported EBITDA of $76.2m for the full year, a 16.2% ($10.6m) increase on the pcp. Final dividend of 2.3 cents per share (not imputed) has also been announced.

Pursuit Minerals (ASX:PUR)
Pursuit says aircore drilling of auger anomalies has been completed at the Warrior Project in WA, and that a Moving Loop Electromagnetic surveying (MLEM) is underway. Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling samples from previous explorers at the Smogo’s prospect have also been submitted for assay.

Peak Minerals (ASX:PUA)
Gold explorer Peak says 18 holes were drilled at Tal Val, with Target B and Target C now tracked to test interpreted mafic-ultramafic intrusions. Peak has confirmed ultramafic intrusives at Target B, Target C and the southeast end of Tal Val.