Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Thursday

Wall Street hits new highs, as iron ore plunges

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq climbed to record highs again, rising by 0.03% and 0.33% respectively, while the Dow Jones fell by 0.14%.

Tech shares led, with Apple rising briefly to its all time high price of US$154.98 before paring gains and closed at US$152.51.

Oil prices rose slightly, following the meeting of Opec+ members which agreed to keep the previously announced hike of 400,000 barrels of supply a month.

Meanwhile, spot iron ore price plunged by almost 6% to US$142.99 overnight, on expectations of more steel production curb by China for the rest of the year.

Eurozone shares +0.7%
US shares flat, Nasdaq +0.3%
US 10 yr yld -2bp to 1.29%
Oil +0.1% to $68.6
Gold flat at $1813.9
Iron ore -5.9% to $143.6
ASX futures -0.2%$A 0.736 with $US index -0.2%

— Shane Oliver (@ShaneOliverAMP) September 1, 2021

To cryptos, where Bitcoin is rising to US$48,500 level at 8:00am AEST, from the US$47,000 level on Wednesday.

Ethereum (ETH) has been showing some notable strength to make a move from Bitcoin’s shadow this week. It’s up 12.17% over the past seven days and is trading at US$3,589.

ASX 200 to open higher on Thursday

The ASX 200 looks set to open higher his morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing up by 0.3% at 8:30am AEST.

Yesterday, the Aussie benchmark fell by 0.1% to close at 7,527. Banks and energy stocks were up, offsetting falls in resources and consumer staples. Last quarter’s GDP growth came in at 0.7% and beat market expectations of 0.3%.

Later today, trade data and housing approvals data will be released.

Set to list today are TEK-Ocean Group (ASX:T3K) and Rubicon Water (ASX:RWL).

TEK-Ocean provides subsea, maritime, logistics, engineering and project management services to the on and off shore energy sector.

Rubicon Water meanwhile, is a water technology software and hardware provider.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Wellnex Life (ASX:WNX)
The consumer wellness products company says it has received a confirmation from Coles supermarkets to stock its new Wakey Wakey and The Iron Company brands instore nationally. Wakey Wakey and The Iron Company brands are both 100% owned by Wellnex Life.

Kin Mining (ASX:KIN)
The company says its Mount Flora project is emerging as a large mineralised system. Recent drilling results have highlighted an emerging discovery, which include 8m at 3.75g/t Au from 32m, and 16m at 1.16g/t Au from 24m.

Helix Resources (ASX:HLX)
The company has entered into a binding agreement with Alpha HPA Ltd (ASX: A4N) to acquire a new tenement prospective for copper/base metals (early-stage exploration) adjacent to its Collerina tenements. Under the terms, Helix will acquire EL8703 from Alpha HPA’s 100%-owned subsidiary Solindo.

Amaero International (ASX:3DA)
The metal additive manufacturer announced an earnings upgrade for its proposed Australian Ti Powder plant. Amaero now expects that revenue capacity per annum to be $40.8m, compared to $30m estimated earlier. This upgrade was made after recent evaluation trials confirmed that yields of its metal powder products are better than the base case for the investment.

XRF Scientific (ASX:XRF)
The company says it will acquire 50% of the shares in Orbis Mining for $600,000 in cash and $200,000 in XRF shares. Orbis is a manufacturer of laboratory jaw crushers, primarily used in the mining sector.

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