Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Tuesday

ASX is set open higher today with Wall Street on holidays overnight
European stocks rallied
RBA governor Phil Lowe will make a speech later today

Wall Street was closed on Monday to mark Juneteenth, an annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the US after the Civil War.

In Europe, major stock markets rose – the STOXX 600 index was up by 0.96%, the FTSE100 by 1.5%, and CAC40 by 0.64%.

Bank stocks rallied as ECB (Euro Central Bank) president Christine Lagarde told the European Parliament that she will raise rates in July and September.

Oil prices were up 1% last night after a 10% slide last week, where natgas prices also tumbled by 20%.

Some experts argue that energy prices might be experiencing “demand destruction”, a situtation where prices have gone so high that people stop demanding it.

Envestnet co-chief investment office Dana D’Auria, however, believes that the energy sector is still the sector to be in.

“I do think that energy is a place that you might want to consider staying for the time being,” D’Auria told Fox.

“I don’t particularly think that the decreases that we’re seeing now are necessarily here to stay.

“We could be one hurricane or supply shock away from even more soaring prices, and we have summer vacations coming up,” she added.

To cryptos, where Bitcoin is holding on to the closely watched US$20k level. At 8.30am AEST, BTC was changing hands at US$20,350.

Local shares meanwhile are set to open higher this morning, with the ASX 200 July futures pointing up by 0.52% at 8am AEST.

Iron ore mining stocks will be in focus after the ferrous metal slid by 11% on the Dalian exchange yesterday as traders weigh the prospect of a recession.

Later today, RBA governor Philip Lowe will address a forum in Sydney and deliver a speech titled “Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy”.

The RBA will also release the minutes of its June board meeting which may provide clues as to why the board decided on a 50bp cash rate hike.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Proteomics (ASX:PIQ)
Proteomics has secured an exclusive worldwide licence from QIMR Berghofer to commercialise biomarkers that can test for oesophageal adenocarcinoma, the most common form of oesophageal cancer. PIQ says it will develop a simple blood test using the licence, building on its experience commercialising PromarkerD test for diabetic kidney disease.

Aurumin (ASX:AUN)
Aurumin has entered into a binding agreement to acquire tenement E57/1140 from a private company, increasing its footprint at its 100% owned Central Sandstone Gold Project. The tenament has proven exploration and production success; with greater than 1Moz Au having been produced regionally at Sandstone. Key terms of the acquisitions are: 500,000 AUN shares ($75,000 at 15c), and 1% net smelter return royalty.

Strike Resources (ASX:SRK)
Strike has executed an agreement to utilise Utah Point, Port Hedland for its maiden shipment of iron ore. The agreement accommodates the export of 200,000 tonnes of iron ore per financial year. Strike is targeting first shipment of approximately 55,000 tonnes of lump by the end of July.

Cannon Resources (ASX:CNR)
Assay results confirmed high grade nickel sulphides intersected in MFED117 and MFED118 at Sabre. Results in MFED117 include 5.7m @ 4.5% Ni from 310.28m, and in MFED118 include 8.3m @ 2.7% Ni from 132.95m.

Adveritas (ASX:AV1)
Adveritas announced continued strong growth in its annualised revenue, up 34% since 31 March 2022 to a record $2.45 million. Adveritas’ key revenue leading indicators all continue to show strong momentum, with the combination of the direct sales force and the Google Cloud Marketplace referrals driving a substantial increase in enterprise trials.

At Stockhead we tell it like it is. While Adveritas is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.