Market highlights and the ASX small caps with big news today

Markets highlights from overnight

The Dow Jones index rose by 64 points or 0.2% to a record closing high. But the S&P 500 index fell by 0.1%, and the Nasdaq index lost 48 points or 0.3%.

10-year US Treasury leapt by 9bps, as traders piled on to risky assets and reflation trades.

Oil prices is near 13-month highs at US$ 63.35 a barrel, as severe cold weather shut down wells and oil refineries in Texas.

Spot iron ore is unchanged at US$ 165.95/t.

Bitcoin tops $US50,000

Bitcoin has once again reached fresh record highs, touching intraday price of $US50,000 in overnight trading, before paring back to the current price of $US48,740. The cryptocurrency’s surge has been phenomenal recently, considering it was trading at $US30,000 at the beginning of the year.

5 small caps to watch on the ASX this morning

These companies have released announcements prior to market open this morning.

Cirrus Networks (ASX:CNW)

The IT solutions company reported 13% higher revenue on prior year’s H1 at $53.8 million. H1 FY21 EBITDA is expected to come in at $1.11 million, compared to $0.86 million in H1 FY20.

The Reject Shop (ASX: TRS)

The retailer announced statutory NPAT (post AASB 16) at $17.0 million, up 79.3% on the prior corresponding period. This is on the back of $434.3 million in sales, down 0.3% on pcp.

Aussie Broadband (ASX:ABB)

The telco reported revenue growth in H1 FY21 of 89% to $157.4m on pcp, due mainly to growth in broadband additions during the half. The increase in revenue was also buoyed by an increase in retail broadband prices and lower than expected churn.

Rumble Resources (ASX:RTR)

The miner presented its final drill assay results and announced that multiple high grade lead-zinc-silver breccia zones were discovered in its Braeside Project in Pilbara. This follows an announcement on 15 February in which significant widths of copper were found at at its Camel Hump Prospect.

Amplia Therapeutics (ASX:ATX)

The pharma company is currently developing drugs for the treatment or cancer and fibrosis. It advised the market this morning that based on the positive results seen to date, it has commenced the Multiple Ascending Dose (MAD) study in the Phase 1 clinical trial of its proprietary focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor AMP945.