Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Monday

Tech stocks pull back on rate hike concerns

Concerns about a possible rate hike pushed US tech stocks down on Friday.

US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank was monitoring price pressures, and would adapt its policies accordingly.

“Global supply-chain constraints and shortages that have led to elevated inflation will last longer than previously expected, likely well into next year,” Powell said.

The Nasdaq fell by 0.82%, the S&P 500 by 0.11%, while the Dow Jones closed higher by 0.21% to a record high.

There were a couple of disappointing corporate earnings results – Snapchat tumbled 27% and Intel lost 12% after missing forecast estimates.

Other major tech stocks earnings will report earnings this week, including a name change for Facebook which will be revealed at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th.

In other markets, spot iron ore rose 2.4% and oil prices were up by 1%.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is softening to US$61,000 at 8am AEDT, after soaring to a record US$65,900 last week.

After ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF made its debut on the NYSE last week, a second ETF, the Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF (NASDAQ:BTF), also made its maiden launch.

ASX 200 to open higher on Monday

The ASX 200 looks set to open higher this morning, with futures markets (December contracts) pointing up by 0.40% at 8:30am AEDT.

On Friday, the ASX fluctuated between red and green before closing a tenth of a point higher at 7,416 points, and was up 0.73% for the week.

Key data this this week will be highlighted by Australia’s quarterly inflation print on Wednesday. The last reading was 0.8%, and the market is expecting that to fall to 0.7% in the September ending quarter.

In large cap news this morning, Telstra (ASX:TLS) has partnered with the Australian Government to acquire the Digicel business in the South Pacific region for US$1.6 billion, plus up to an additional US$250 million subject to business performance over the next three years.

Set to list at 1pm EST is junior base and precious metals exploration company Eastern Metals (ASX:EMS) with initial interests in three projects located in the Northern Territory and New South Wales.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Keypath Education (ASX:KED)
Revenue in the first quarter was up 40.8% to $30.4m compared to the same quarter last year. However, adjusted EBITDA was down 57.8% to $1.1m as a result of higher investments in systems and startup costs for its Southeast Asia operation.

Playside Studios (ASX:PLY)
The game company’s Q1 revenue increased by 114% to $4.04m compared to the same quarter last year, and was 29% higher than the previous quarter. Highlights for the quarter include its first ever acquisition, bringing the Dumb Ways to Die franchise into the business.

Clean Teq Water (ASX:CLQ)
The company reported that cash inflow from project revenue has increased in Q1 to $1.6 million, with a further $0.5 million received on 1st October (Q2). CNQ is also well funded, with cash reserves at 30 September of $13.8 million.

Bio-Gene Tech (ASX:BGT)
The agtech company has signed a deal with Evergreen Garden Care, to develop new insecticide solutions for consumer markets in the E.U., U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Evergreen is the leading garden care company in Europe and Australasia.

Dacian Gold (ASX:DCN)
Drilling below the Heffernans and Ganymede open pits at its Jupiter Project has intersected significant mineralisation, including 14.7m at7.2g/tf rom 468m at Heffernans, and 18.3m @ 1.4g/t Au from 247.1m at Ganymede.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Playside Studios is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.