Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Monday

Wall Street, iron ore, copper extend record rally

US equities climbed on Friday, as the US unemployment rate rose slightly by 0.1% to 6.1%. The weaker-than-expected jobs data actually had a positive impact on the stockmarket, as it eased investor concerns about inflation and a cutback in stimulus.

The Dow Jones rose by 0.66%, the S&P was up by 0.74%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 0.88%.

Both the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed at record highs.

Meanwhile, the copper price rose by 3.2% to US$10,420/tonne and also reached its record high.

Iron ore also extended its record rally, and was up by 5% to $US212.25 a tonne.

Bitcoin is currently trading around the US$58,200 level at 8am AEDT, after trading at the US$56,200 level on Friday.

Closer to home

The ASX 200 index closed 0.20 per cent higher on Friday, and was also up by 0.70 per cent for the week.

In big caps news this morning, A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) has revised its FY21 outlook, saying that it will not meet guidance. The company said full year revenue will now be downgraded to between $1.2 billion and $1.25 billion, even as ts third-quarter sales were broadly in line with plan.

A two-way race is on to buy the troubled Crown Casino (ASX:CWN).

Star Entertainment (ASX:SGR) has now entered the race to buy the casino. The merger is for a nil-premium share exchange ratio of 2.68 Star shares for each Crown share. A cash alternative was also proposed for $12.50 per Crown share. Following that bid, Blackstone has also now upped its bid for Crown to $12.35 a share.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Novonix (ASX:NVX)
The lithium-ion battery play announced that it is exploring the secondary trading of its securities on the NASDAQ. It has submitted a draft registration statement, on a confidential basis, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a potential initial public offering in the US American Depositary Shares1 (ADS), and concurrent listing of the ADS on NASDAQ.

Renergen (ASX:RLT)
The natural gas and helium producer advised that the drilling of well R2D2 in Karoo has progressed, with encouraging gaseous odours detected in the deeper section of the well, consistent with the experience of the drilling of the successful well MDR1.

Engage:BDR (ASX:EN1)
The digital marketing company announced a new partnership signed with Infolinks, the third largest publisher marketplace in the world. EN1 will now provide monetisation solutions to Infolinks for their advertising inventory. According to EN1, Infolinks is one of the largest publisher marketplaces in the world, generating income for over 350,000 direct website publishers and bloggers of all sizes in 128 countries.

Alligator Energy (ASX:AGE)
The company announced that it has formed a strategic relationship with Traxys North America, the US arm of the global commodities trading group Traxys. Under the agreement, Traxys will provide uranium marketing services for future uranium production, long term offtake contracting, and project development financing. It will also assist Alligator in uranium project acquisition opportunities.

Xantippe Resources (ASX:XTC)
The precious metals miner has announced the grant of three exploration licences in the Southern Cross Region of Western Australia. The three new licences will increase the area of the company’s granted exploration and prospecting licence footprint in the region to 182 square kilometres.