Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Wednesday

Wall Street and Bitcoin slid again

All major indices in the US have fallen for the past two consecutive days.

On Tuesday, the Dow Jones was down 0.68%, S&P 500 fell 0.85%, and tech heavy NASDAQ dropped 0.56%.

Technology and telecom stocks were the main drag, with a broad-based selloff in both sectors.

There are fears in the market that inflation has crept in, and may curb back government stimulus spending.

Meanwhile Bitcoin has fallen again, trading around the US$42,900 level at 8am AEDT, from the US$44,200 level on Tuesday.

The fall came as China banned financial institutions from providing services related to crypto transactions, and warned investors against speculative trading in cryptos.

Closer to home

The ASX 200 rose by 0.60 per cent on Tuesday, with resources and gold mining stocks leading the way.

In the continuing political spat between Australia and China, Beijing’s top economic planning body said that it will step up domestic iron ore production, so as to not depend on Australian imports.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Prospa (ASX:PGL)
The fintech company says it has surpassed $2 billion in lending to small businesses in ANZ. This milestone came on the back of a strong growth trend in originations, and pent-up demand from small business customers.

BNK Banking Corp (ASX:BBC)
The diversified financial services company said it has reached an agreement in principle for a five years alliance with Goldman Sachs, with intent to originate, fund and securitise residential mortgages in Australia.

Helloworld Travel (ASX:HLO)
The company said that the Australian Department of Finance has extended its contract for travel services with QBT, its wholly owned subsidiary, for another year. Helloworld says it is seeing a strong recovery across all its corporate businesses – namely QBT, TravelEdge, Show Travel and APX in New Zealand.

Catalyst Metals (ASX:CYL)
The mineral exploration company has announced excellent metallurgical results for its Boyd’s Dam, with test work being carried out on samples of primary material. The results indicated that the material is non-refractory, and 97% gold recovery was achieved by gravity concentration and direct cyanidation.

Corella Resources (ASX:CR9)
The company said that it has lodged an exploration licence application covering a further 88km2, potentially increasing its key landholding at the flagship Tampu Kaolin Project by 108 per cent.