Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Tuesday

Tech stocks lead Wall Street rebound

All major US indices rebounded overnight, after two straight weeks of losses.

Dow Jones index was up by 0.54%, S&P by 0.99%, and tech heavy NASDAQ by 1.41%.

Investors are still watching for potential signs of inflation, with a handful of economic data out this week in the US including home sales on Friday.

Elsewhere, iron ore fell for the second consecutive day, by 4% to $US192.42 a tonne.

Brent crude meanwhile rose by almost 4% to $US68.53 a barrel.

As US traffic volume goes back to normal and gasoline use increases, where would the oil price go from here?

US$1 trillion wiped from crypto market

Bitcoin is holding steady and trading at US$34,800 at 8am AEDT, after plunging and causing the whole crypto market to wipe out more than US$1 trillion in the past week.

BTC, which accounts for more than 40 per cent of the global crypto market, plunged as Chinese regulators turned the screw on crypto trading and mining.

Closer to home

The ASX 200 gained 0.22 per cent on Monday, with healthcare and energy leading the way.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Plenti (ASX:PLT)
The fintech company reported record loan originations of $470 million, which was up 64% year-on-year. It also delivered record revenue of $53.1 million, which is up 28% year-on-year.

Airtasker (ASX:ART)
The gig jobs marketplace announced that it has successfully completed its $20.7m capital raising via an institutional placement. The proceeds will be used to fund the Zaarly acquisition, and expansion into key city markets in the US and UK.

Doctor Care Anywhere (ASX:DOC)
The UK-based telehealth company has signed a deal with Nuffield Health, one of the UK’s largest private healthcare organisations, to develop a digitally integrated virtual and in-person primary care service. Pre-marketing to Nuffield Health’s network of 1,600 corporate clients will commence immediately.

Intelicare (ASX:ICR)
The aged-care tech specialist said that it has been awarded a grant by the New South Wales Smart Sensing Network for $100,000 to further develop the company’s machine learning capability. The award was given in conjunction with the University of Sydney and Macquarie University, and talks are now being held on how to resource the one-year joint project with the universities’ Computer Science Departments.

Pure Hydrogen (ASX:PH2)
The clean energy company has signed a deal with Pure Haul, for the transport of hydrogen to potential customers. Pure Haul will transport hydrogen from its hydrogen hubs to customers sites, and will form part of Pure Hydrogen’s total supply chain encompassing hydrogen supply, refuelling network, and now logistics.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Plenti and Pure Hydrogen are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.