Market highlights and 5 ASX small caps to watch on Friday

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Wall Street mixed as F45 makes US IPO debut

There was no clear direction in US equities markets overnight, and like the previous day, the benchmarks finished in mixed territories again.

The Dow Jones finished 0.15% higher, S&P 500 was lower by 0.33%, while tech-heavy Nasdaq also fell 0.77%.

Morgan Stanley was the latest bank to report earnings, which beat expectations. Other banks that reported results so far this week have also topped forecasts.

Popular fitness chain F45, which was initially started in Sydney, has gone public on the NYSE under the ticker FXLV. The stock finished 1% higher on debut, for a market cap of around US$1.5 billion.

Meanwhile, oil markets fell again by another 2%, and still awaiting details of the new OPEC+ supply deal after Saudi Arabia and UAE reached an agreement yesterday that should lift global supplies over the next months.

To cryptos, where Bitcoin is falling again, and is trading at US$31,800 level at 8am AEST, from the US$32,900 level on Thursday.

According to the popular Dutch YouTubing crypto analyst, Michaël van de Poppe, the $31-31.5K level needs to hold if a more dramatic tumble is to be avoided.
 

ASX 200 set to open lower on Friday

The ASX 200 looks set to open lower at the open this morning, with futures markets (September contracts) pointing down by 0.19% at 8:30am AEST.

Yesterday, the benchmark index slipped 0.26% on lower-than-normal volume, where nine out of 11 sectors were lower, led by Healthcare, which lost 1.44%.
 

5 ASX small caps to watch today

Michael Hill (ASX:MHJ)
The jewellery retailer had a good quarter, with same store sales up 7.5% against prior year, and up 116.3% on an all store sales basis. The company also reported record digital sales, which for the first time exceeded $30m.

 Incannex Healthcare (ASX:IHL)
The medicinal cannabinoid company said it has engaged Procaps to develop the specific formulation for IHL-675A, IHL’s anti-inflammatory multi-use drug product with Procaps’ ́ proprietary patented Unigel technology.

Pacific Smiles (ASX:PSQ)
The dental group updated its FY21 profit guidance, saying that patient fees will come in at around $240.8 million, which is at the top end of its previous guidance range. Underlying EBITDA, meanwhile, is expected to be approximately $33.1 million, which is at the lower end of the range.

PNX Metals (ASX:PNX)
The company announced that an RC drill program of up to 2,000 metres has commenced at the Glencoe gold deposit. Drilling will take approximately four weeks with assays due from mid-August.

Norwood Systems (ASX:NOR)
The virtual tech company announced that long-term customer Spark NZ has ordered for approximately NZD$639K of voicemail services to be provided.

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