RBA Board will meet today. Picture Getty.
Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Tuesday
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Wall Street at record highs ahead of Fed meeting
US stocks rose steadily and finished at fresh record highs once again overnight.
All three stock benchmarks rose and closed at their all-time highs – the Dow Jones was up by 0.26%, S&P 500 by 0.18%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 0.63%.
Tesla was up by 8% after announcing a pilot program on supercharger stations in the Netherlands for non-Tesla cars, as well as a leasing program in China allowing people to drive Tesla cars without a downpayment.
Investors are awaiting a crucial US Fed meeting on Tuesday (US time), in the wake of increased volatility in the bond market in connection with the future direction of interest rates.
Over in Europe, the CEO of Barclays Bank, Jes Staley, resigned amid accusations of past links with Jeffrey Epstein. Barclays’ share price was only down by 0.69% on the news.
In other markets, the spot iron ore price keeps falling and was down a further 3.2% overnight to US$103.30/t.
The debt crisis faced by Chinese property firms remains a threat to the iron ore price, with some analysts predicting it to fall below US$100 in 2022.
To cryptos, where Bitcoin is back up over US$60k, and is trading at US$60,700 at 8am AEDT, slightly down from US$61,000 yesterday.
November is traditionally one of the best months in the stock markets, and historically in the crypto market, too.
Read all about it here on Stockhead.
ASX 200 to open higher ahead of RBA meeting
The ASX 200 looks set to open higher this morning, with futures markets (December contracts) pointing up by 0.17% at 8:30am AEDT.
Yesterday, the Australian bourse rose 0.64% on the first trading day of the month. All sectors were in the green except financials – a sector dragged down by Westpac (ASX:WBC) following its disappointing results.
Investors’ attention is all on the RBA meeting later today, with an official statement due to come out right after.
On the IPO front, set to list today are:
Austral Resources (ASX:AR1), a mineral explorer that raised $30m at 20c a share.
C29 Metals (ASX:C29), Aa mineral explorer developing copper, gold and base metal assets throughout Australia. The company raised $5m at 20c a share.
5 ASX small caps to watch today
The aged care software company announced a contract win with Mercy Community Services, to supply MercyCare with assistive living technology. MercyCare helps over 2,400 seniors live independently in their own homes. No financial information was disclosed for the deal.
The data analysis company announced a restructure to reduce fixed costs and enhance operational efficiency. DUG expects to realise cost savings in FY22 of approximately US$4.2 million as a result of these initiatives, with further savings in FY23.
The company announced that Lockyer Deep-1 well has been successfully suspended for production testing, and the Ensign 970 rig has now been released. Norwest plans to acquire 2D and 3D seismic surveys across its permits, the results of which will serve to optimise the forward appraisal and exploration drilling program.
The company’s Cooper Eromanga Basin permit has received a project status, after receiving a formal confirmation from the Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy of QLD. This will allow KEY to start reallocating work program commitments for the project.
The company is set to commence drilling this month at its flagship TT CBM Gas Project in Mongolia. The drilling program will build on the successful eight well program that Jade Gas completed whilst private in CY2019.
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