Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Monday

Tech leads Wall Street rise

Tech stocks led Wall Street on Friday, as all three major US indices gained.

The Dow Jones rose by 0.67%, the S&P added 1.09%, while tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 1.44%.

Major tech stocks like Amazon, Facebook, Alphabet, and Tesla all rose. All eyes will be on their earnings this week, after Netflix disappointed last week.

The focus this week will also be on the US Fed meeting on Wednesday.

In other markets, iron ore gained 2.4% to US$186.25, after hiking to a 10-year high earlier last week.

Oil is also higher by 1%, while the benchmark 10-year treasury yield rose slightly to 1.56% from 1.54%.

Meanwhile, the two-day world climate summit concluded on Friday, with PM Scott Morrison refusing to budge on Australia’s position of targeting a 26-28 per cent carbon reduction from 2005 levels by 2030, even after the US increased its target to 50-52 per cent.

Bitcoin has fallen to US$47,900 level at 8am AEDT, from the US$51,000 level on Friday. The crypto has been falling since the US government announced a proposed tax hike for the wealthy.

Closer to home

The ASX200 is set to open higher today on the back of US equities. The index closed higher by 0.08 per cent on Friday.

Westpac (ASX:WBC) has just announced that its cash earnings and profit after tax in 1H21 will be reduced by $282 million, due to notable items. The biggest write-down will be the additional provisions for customer refunds, payments, associated costs, and litigation provisions of $220 million.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Next Science (ASX:NXS)
The medtech company has announced that it has received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the sale of XPerience No Rinse Antimicrobial Solution as a medical device in the United States. Sales of XPerienceTM in the US will commence immediately.

OM Holdings (ASX:OMH)
The mining company reports that more than 80 per cent of its employees who had protested against the Covid-19 protocols set up by the company have now voluntarily opted to remain on premises in the Samalaju Industrial Park, at the company’s Sarawak smelter in Malaysia.

Harris Technology (ASX:HT8)
The pureplay ecommerce company said that its sales revenue for the quarter came in at $10.4 million, and represented a 206 per cent increase on the previous corresponding quarter. Total revenue to March 2021 was at $30 million (unaudited), compared to the same period last year of $7.48 million, representing 300 per cent year-on-year growth.

Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC)
The UK-based telehealth company announced that its unaudited underlying revenue for 1Q FY21 was 16.6 per cent higher at GBP 4.4 million. Its cash position is strong at GBP 35.1 million as at 31 March.

Australian Primary Hemp (ASX:APH)
The wellness product company has announced it has signed second two-year deal with Annex Foods, a leading Australian food manufacturer and marketer, for the supply of Australian grown and processed Hammer Milled Hemp Meal. The agreement is valued at $250,000 over two years.