Market Highlights and 5 ASX Small Caps to watch on Wednesday

Wall Street tumbles, ASX to fall as oil prices spike

Aussie shares are set to follow Wall Street into the red today, as oil prices surged by as much as 10% overnight.

As fighting in the Ukraine intensified, the US and other major economies announced they will release emergency oil stockpiles but traders believe it won’t be enough.

Brent crude spiked up by 8.35% to US$106.2 at the time of writing, while other commodities like thermal coal also surged by 10%.

On Wall Street, the three major equity benchmarks finished lower – the S&P 500 by 1.55%, the Dow by 1.76%, and tech heavy Nasdaq by 1.59%.

After surging to over 2% in January, the benchmark US 10 year Treasury yield has dropped a further 10bp overnight to 1.72%, as traders reduced bets of a 50bp Fed hike in March. The key Eurozone CPI data for February will be released later today.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin has had a wonderful week, rising another 2% to US$43,988 at 8.25am AEDT.

Here’s our roundup of the biggest winners and losers in the crypto world.

ASX 200 to open lower Wednesday

The ASX 200 is set to open lower this morning, with the March futures pointing down by 0.70% at 8.30am AEDT.

Yesterday, local shares posted their second straight day of gains to start the week, closing 0.67% higher.

The RBA’s meeting concluded with a decision to keep the cash rate at 0.1%, saying that the conflict in Europe is a “major new source of uncertainty” for the global economy.

CoreLogic’s house prices for February showed that Sydney and Melbourne property prices decreased slightly in the month. It was the first fall since September 2020, and experts say it may be the first sign of a broader fall in the housing market.

5 ASX small caps to watch today

AdAlta (ASX:1AD)
AdAlta has received the first patent relating to lead program, AD-214, from China. AD-214 treats fibrosis and the new patent protects the i-body sequence used in AD-214 sequences, as well as the pharmaceutical compositions and derivatives containing these i-body sequences.

Boart Longyear (ASX:BLY)
The industrial drilling specialist says its manufacturing plant in Wroclaw, Poland completed the facility’s largest order ever for 12 LFTM160 drill rigs and FREEDOM Loaders to be delivered to an Australian customer, Mitchell Services. No amounts were disclosed.

SECOS Group (ASX:SES)
SECOS received first purchase orders from NYSE publicly listed UNFI, one of the largest wholesalers of natural, organic products in the US. UNFI will stock three MyEcoPet products initially via 12 of their 58 Countrywide distribution centres in the US.

Kathmandu Holdings (ASX:KMD)
The outdoor fashion retailer said it will change its name to KMD Brands to align to the company’s vision. The name change will be effective on 16 March.

Cobalt Blue (ASX:COB)
Cobalt has been granted Major Project Status for the Broken Hill Cobalt Project by the Australian government. Major Project Status extends for a three-year period to support the project through its development phase.