Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Tuesday

Wall Street rallies led by tech

Dow Jones and S&P 500 trimmed losses from the last few days, rising by 0.32% and 0.70% respectively overnight.

Tech heavy NASDAQ rose by 1.23%, led by Tesla which was higher by 2.31%.

The rally was mainly triggered by US treasury yields pulling back from 12 month highs. Benchmark 10-year fell by 5 basis points to 1.68%.

Elsewhere, Turkish stock market plunged 10% and the Lira lost more than 20% of its value since yesterday, after the president fired his market-friendly central bank governor over the weekend.

Bitcoin is trading at USD$54,700 at 8am AEDT, falling from US$57,700 yesterday.

Closer to home

Outdoor gear company Kathmandu (ASX:KMD) reported a 13 per cent increase in first half sales to $410 million, for a net profit of $22.3 million.

Church fintech Pushpay (ASX:PPH) welcomed Sixth Street as its biggest shareholder, after the global investment company purchased 17.8 per cent of Pushpay’s shares.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Brookside Energy (ASX:BRK)
Shares in the company are set to rise this morning after it announced that construction of the all-weather multi-well pad and access road for the Jewell Well commenced on the 9 March, is well advanced. The Jewell Well pad will accommodate both drilling and post-drilling to allow multiple wells in anticipation of future full field development of the Jewell Unit.

SRJ Technologies (ASX:SRJ)
Engineering company SRJ has received its first purchase order from global offshore floating platform supplier MODEC, after signing a services agreement back in December. Japan-based MODEC is the world’s largest floating production storage and offloading unit fleet owner/operator in the world, with 18 vessels in operation.

Payright (ASX:PYR)
BNPL play Payright has rolled out its bill smoothing payment service, enabling consumers to spread the cost of household bills. Payright Bill Smoothing adds to the company’s suite of BNPL services, by allowing consumers to spread the cost of their utilities bills, council rates, vehicle registration, and insurance premiums, over a three-month term.

Strike Resources (ASX:SRK)
Strike is to spin out its lithium and graphite assets through the listing on ASX of its wholly owned subsidiary, Lithium Energy. Lithium Energy will have a battery minerals focus via its flagship Solaroz Lithium Project in Argentina, and Burke Graphite Project in Queensland. It will undertake an IPO to raise $9 million through the issue of 45 million shares at $0.20 per share.

PharmAust (ASX:PAA)
The clinical stage drugs company said that its subsidiary Epichem, has entered into a licensing agreement with Illinois-based Thermaquatica Inc to research, develop and promote a novel, innovative and disruptive waste to fuels technology.