Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Tuesday

Wall Street rebounds as Bitcoin tumbles

All three major US benchmarks leapt higher after declines in the last three days.

The Dow Jones rose by 1.76%, S&P 500 by 1.40%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 0.79%.

It was the best gain for the Dow since early March.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell signalled in a written remark that he believes US inflation is transitory, and “as these transitory supply effects abate, inflation is expected to drop back toward our longer-run goal.”

In other markets, oil prices have advanced the most in a month, rising by 2%, while iron ore was down almost 5% to $US208.15 a tonne.

Bitcoin crashes on China crackdown

Bitcoin has crashed to US$31,700 at 8am AEST this morning, from the US$35,400 level on Monday.

The fall came after China’s central bank reminded Alipay and banks that they must not provide crypto-related services.

Bitcoin has reportedly formed a “death cross”, a technical chart signal where the average price over the last 50 days is below the 200-day moving average.

This signal is usually an indicator that prices will keep falling.

ASX sheds almost 2% on Monday

The ASX 200 fell by 1.81 per cent on Monday, following the plunge in Wall Street on Friday.

The selling was sparked by concerns that central banks will lift interest rates earlier than previously anticipated, a sentiment triggered by indications out of US Federal Reserve’s meeting last week.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Openpay (ASX:OPY)
The fintech company will acquire 100% of Payment Assist, a leading BNPL provider to the UK automotive sector in one of the largest acquisitions made by a BNPL firm in the UK to date. The purchase price is for £11.5 million upfront, plus an earn-out component of up to £17 million, with completion expected in 1H FY22.

Peppermint (ASX:PIL)
The fintech company has signed a significant cash deposit acceptance agreement with the Philippines’ biggest third-party electronic payment provider, ECPay. The agreement will allow any of bizmoto’s 55,000 agents to physically cash-in money at any of ECPay’s 13,000 partner outlets and stores nationwide, and instantly top-up their mobile wallets. This will dramatically expand the number of cash-in venues for bizmoto agents nationwide.

Nexion (ASX:NNG)
The hybrid cloud company will launch Nexion’s hybrid cloud solutions with IBM Global Technology Services in New Zealand from mid July 2021. This agreement with IBM and the recently announced agreement with Aryaka to build an SD-WAN network node in Auckland helps underpin the company’s international growth plan, and the development of globally connected hybrid cloud and SD-WAN solutions.

Cedar Woods Properties (ASX:CWP)
The property development company reported strong sales conditions across the company’s high performing projects, driving presales to a record $439 million at 31 May 2021. These presales, which are due for settlement in future financial years, are up more than 20 per cent on the $360m balance recorded at 30 June 2020.

Blue Energy (ASX:BLU)
The clean energy company has signed a hydrogen off-take agreement with Stanmore Resources to supply hydrogen from its future pilot production activities in its ATP 814 tenement in the Bowen Basin. This latest agreement comes after Blue Energy and Stanmore previously announced a non-binding MoU for the commercialisation of mine gas from Stanmore’s proposed underground operation adjacent to ATP814.