Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Tuesday

Wall Street keeps climbing

All three key US benchmarks lifted and set record highs again on Monday, ahead of earnings season.

The Dow Jones rose by 0.36%, S&P 500 by 0.35%, and Nasdaq by 0.21%.

China transport-hailing company, Didi Global, dipped 7% on the NYSE after complying with Chinese regulator’s order to remove 25 apps from mobile stores.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has bought a ticket to ride on Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic to space.

To cryptos, Bitcoin is currently trading at US$33,000 level at 8am AEST, from the US$33,400 level on Monday.

Aussie defi champ Synthetix has at least been something to write home about lately, hitting a one-month high of $13.76 before coming back down to earth somewhat (around $12.50) with the rest of the market.

ASX 200 set to open higher on Tuesday

Following the rise on Wall Street, the ASX 200 looks set to open higher at the open this morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing up by 0.12 per cent at 8:30am AEST.

On Monday, the index shrugged off concerns about the impacts of the extended Sydney lockdown with the ASX 200 closing at 7,334 points which is 0.83% higher than Friday.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Nearmap (ASX:NEA)
The geospatial map specialist reported that its annual contracted value (ACV) portfolio is expected to close FY21 at $133.8m, exceeding recently upgraded guidance of $128m-$132m. The ACV growth was driven by another record performance in North America, validating the company’s refined go-to-market strategy.

Plenti Group (ASX:PLT)
The non-bank lending company has delivered another record quarter, with loan originations of $216.4 million, 260% above previous corresponding period (pcp), and 26% above prior quarter. The company also reached a $1 billion loan originations run rate in June.

iCar Asia (ASX:ICQ)
The Southeast Asia-based automotive portal announced that it has received a takeover offer from Carsome Group to acquire all of its shares at 55c a share. The iCar share price closed at 30c on Monday.

Ansarada Group (ASX:AND)
The cloud-based software company reported a record quarter, delivering a 17% year-on-year increase in revenue to $9.3 million, and a 99% increase in new customer wins.

Pantoro Ltd (ASX:PNR)
The gold producer announced that drill results at its 50% owned Mainfield at the Norseman Gold Project returned numerous high grade results which include 5.7 m @ 35.85 g/t Au inc. 1.4 m @ 141.57 g/t Au, including 4 m @ 6.86 g/t Au.

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