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If you’re interested in blue chip shares, then you might want to take a look at the CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) share price.

CSL is one of the world’s leading biotherapeutics companies with a portfolio of leading therapies and vaccines. This includes flu vaccines and countless plasma-based products.

What’s been happening?

CSL has been impacted both positively and negatively by the pandemic. While demand for flu vaccines have been increasing materially, its ability to collect plasma has been hurt by social distancing and other COVID-19 related headwinds.

The latter is bad news for CSL as plasma is a core ingredient in many of its most lucrative products. The shortage of plasma has driven up prices and is likely to impact its margins in FY 2022.

The good news is that plasma collections have been improving greatly and are expected to reach pre-COVID levels later this year. This is likely to mean that any margin pressures will be very short-lived.

Is the CSL share price in the buy zone?

According to a note out of Macquarie from last week, its analysts believe the CSL share price is in the buy zone. Macquarie has put an outperform rating and $312.00 price target on the company’s shares.

It isn’t the only broker that is positive on the company. Analysts at Citi have a buy rating and $310.00 price target on CSL’s shares at present.

The latter commented: “Over the last few weeks, most of CSL’s listed competitors have reported results. When we look at the data overall, it points to an improvement in the rate of plasma collection in April, which has been the main impediment to growth throughout the pandemic. It also points to continued strong demand for the end-product, in particular IG. Overall this gives us confidence in our Buy call on CSL, although we are yet to see the earnings trough for the company which will occur in FY22 given the long lead times from plasma collection to sale.”

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week
• 2 five-star ASX shares that analysts love
• Why this expert is urging you to buy these ASX defensive shares even in a bull market
• Can the Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) share price crack $100?
• Brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy now

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The Synlait Milk Ltd (ASX: SM1) share price is on watch this morning after the company downgraded its FY21 guidance.

Synlait shares finished Friday’s session trading 7.5% higher at $2.99 per share.

The milk powder and milk solids product manufacturer’s share price is down more than 50% over the past 12 months. Let’s take a look at Synlait’s new guidance.

Synlait’s expectations turn sour

Synlait shares will be in the spotlight after the company’s board downgraded its guidance figures this morning. This came after the company undertook an internal review of the “already disclosed risks” that are currently hampering its business performance.

Synlait now expects to make a net profit after tax (NPAT) loss of between $20 million and $30 million in FY21.

One of the reasons for the downgrade is the company’s expectation of ongoing shipping delays, which will result in the sale of some ingredient products occurring after the FY21 balance date.

Synlait is also achieving lower prices for ingredient products than usual, due to “prevailing market prices”, which it blames on a combination of sales phasing and volume pressure. Furthermore, the company says it’s adopting a “more conservative” approach to year-end inventory volumes and valuation, leading to what it believes is a safer guidance figure.

The Synlait share price crashed in late March after the company cancelled its original FY21 guidance following a significant drop in demand from A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M). At that time, the company had forecast FY21 NPAT to be “broadly breakeven”.

But faltering guidances aren’t the Synlait board’s only problem. It’s also been hit in the past two months by the losses of its CFO and CEO in quick succession.

Management comments

Synlait CEO John Penno kept his update comments short but not so sweet, saying:

I am disappointed to share this news with our investor base. As a team we are focused on closing out this year as well as we can, then resetting, and delivering a much improved financial performance in FY22.

Synlait share price snapshot

The Synlait share price has performed poorly since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic slammed the Chinese milk and baby formula market shut. Synlait shares are now down near the company’s five-year lows, after peaking at over $12 in late 2018. The company’s shares have lost 39% in 2021 alone.

More reading

• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• Why is the A2 Milk (ASX:A2M) share price up 7% today?
• Why a2 Milk, EML Payments, Webjet, & Xero shares are pushing higher
• ASX 200 down 0.25%: Kogan sinks, EML & A2 Milk jump
• Top brokers pick these 3 underperforming ASX shares as their latest buy idea

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At the start of each week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) remains the most shorted ASX share despite its short interest easing to 10.2%. This travel agent’s shares have come under pressure recently after guiding to a larger than expected second half loss and concerns over travel agent commission reductions.
• Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) isn’t far behind after its short interest rose to 10.1%. Last week this ecommerce company revealed that inventory issues continue to weigh on its performance. As a result, it expects to fall well short of analyst expectations in FY 2021.
• Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) has seen its short interest rise week on week to 10%. This gold miner’s shares have been sold off this year due to regulatory issues at its Bibiani operation in Ghana and underwhelming production and guidance.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest rise to 9.9%. Short sellers have been increasing their positions in this online furniture and homewares retailer due to a recent and disappointing trading update.
• Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR) has short interest of 9.6%, which is flat week on week once again. Weakness in salmon prices and trade war concerns appear to be behind this high level of short interest.
• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) has seen its short interest rise week on week to 9.4%. A stuttering travel market recovery, valuation concerns, and travel agent commission reduction fears could be weighing on investor sentiment.
• Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd (ASX: EOS) has entered the top ten with short interest of 8.3%. Short sellers may be concerned that the communications, defence, and space company’s performance will be impacted by supply chain issues.
• Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1) has short interest of 8.2%, which is up again week on week. Short sellers may believe the Network as a Service provider’s shares are overvalued, especially with bond yields rising.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8% of its shares held short, which is up slightly week on week. It appears as though investors are concerned about its major contract renewal negotiation with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW). The sudden exit of its CEO may also be weighing on sentiment.
• JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH) has entered the top ten with short interest of 7.4%. Short sellers may feel the retail giant’s shares are overvalued considering a sharp profit decline is being forecast in FY 2022.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• 2 ASX shares that could be worth looking at this weekend
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars
• Why the Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price crashed 14% to a 52-week low

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Two men are each facing 10 years in prison and a possible $810,000 fine for alleged insider trading of ASX shares.

Former Beacon Minerals Ltd (ASX: BCN) project manager Alexander McCulloch and external services provider Darryl Brian Mapleson both faced Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.

McCulloch faced 2 charges of insider trading, while Mapleson was charged with 3 counts.

According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), both the accused allegedly knew of confidential results from Beacon’s stage one drilling program at the Jaurdi Gold Project.

McCulloch is accused of encouraging two associates to buy up shares before the result was announced to the ASX.

Beacon had commissioned Mapleson to be its Competent Person to handle announcements to the ASX. A competent person is a person that mitigates risk for a company.

He allegedly bought up 12,792,850 shares between 19 and 24 January 2017.

The drilling result was then revealed on the ASX on 31 January, which immediately pushed the stock price up 33%.

If found guilty, the maximum penalty for their insider trading charges is 10 years imprisonment or an $810,000 penalty — or both.

Mapleson’s case has been adjourned to 4 June, while McCulloch will return to court on 2 July.

Beacon shares were up 1.37% on Friday, changing hands for 3.7 cents.

More reading

• ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week
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• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated
• 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday

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The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has just capped off an extraordinary week. The index managed to eke out a small gain, despite enduring a dramatic mid-week sell-off, which saw the ASX 200 lose close to 2% on one day. That was the ASX’s largest one-day loss in just under 3 months.

Despite this, four other days of gains saw the index just manage a 0.2% rise for the week, which took the ASX 200 to 7,030 points. That’s still a good 2% below the new all-time high we saw the index make a fortnight ago.

So what prompted the rather high levels of volatility we saw last week? Well, there was all kinds of money moving around, which seemed to spark a lot of the market gyrations. To start things off, the ASX banks had a fairly tame week, falling pretty much in line with the market on Wednesday, and rising with it on Thursday and Friday.

The exception was Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), which lost close to 3% on Wednesday. But that might reflect the recent high share prices CBA has been making of late. It remains the only ASX big four bank to have outperformed its 2015 all-time high, reached in 2021. Indeed, it even hit a new record high of $98.84 on Tuesday.

But the same can’t be said of the big ASX miners. BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO), and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) all had clangers last week. BHP fell more than 4% over the week, losing close to 1% on Thursday — a day the ASX 200 added more than 1%. Rio and Fortescue followed similar trajectories. The catalyst for these moves was (of course) further weakness in the iron ore price, which continued to descend from its all-time highs to under US$200 per tonne last week.

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon.

ASX 200 ups and downs

ASX energy shares were also in the firing line, as reports that Iranian oil might be rejoining the global supply for the first time in years circulated during the week. Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) shares had lost 4.3% by Friday afternoon. But ASX gold miners were one sector that seemed to pick up some of the money flowing out of other commodities. The largest of these, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM), put on 0.54%. But some of the mid-tier miners were far more attractive propositions for investors. Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) added 6.74%, whereas Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR) managed a hefty 9.77% gain.

We also continued to see whipsawing volatility in ASX tech shares, as well as for cryptocurrencies. The most dramatic of these had to be EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML). EML suffered a rare and brutal 50% sell-off on Wednesday after the company disclosed it was under investigation by the Irish Government over alleged money laundering on its platform.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) was also in investors’ bad books after a less-than well-received trading update. Put simply, Kogan isn’t growing as fast as it hoped in the aftermath of the pandemic last year. It also flagged some inventory issues and increased costs. Investors weren’t impressed and sent Kogan shares to a new 52-week low.

In contrast, beaten down buy now, pay later shares Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) shrugged off previous share price weakness and rallied over the week. As for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), it (along with most other cryptocurrencies) had a shocking week, plummeting to a multi-month low of close to US$30,000 per coin on Wednesday. It then rallied back to around US$40,000 on Thursday, before again retreating back to around US$33,000 per coin at the time of writing. Just another week for Bitcoin holders I guess.

How did the markets end the week?

Well, the ASX 200 started the week out at 7,014.2 points and finished up at 7,030.3 points, making it a 0.23% gain for the index for the week. As we mentioned earlier, Wednesday was the only day in the red last week for the ASX 200. But what a day it was – delivering a 1.9% drop.

Despite this, we saw ASX 200 shares add 0.13% and 0.6% on Monday and Tuesday respectively. Following Wednesday, we had a 1.27% gain on Thursday and another 0.23% on top for Friday. That was enough to keep the week in the green overall.

Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also fared mildly well. The All Ords started out at 7,239.4 points and finished up at 7,265.3 points for a gain of 0.36%.

Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?

Time now for our most salacious segment, where we compare the ASX 200’s best winners and poorest losers. Put the kettle on, and we’ll start with the losers:

Worst ASX 200 losers	% loss for the week
EML Payments Ltd (ASX: EML)	(34.6%)
Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)	(14%)
Monadelphous Group Limited (ASX: MND)	(10%)
Iluka Resources Limited (ASX: ILU)	(9.8%)

The aforementioned EML Payments was the ASX’s wooden spooner last week, with its hefty 34.6% loss. EML starts this week at the lowest share price the company has traded at since November last year. Likewise, the (also aforementioned) Kogan share price is currently exploring old territory. It starts the week at $8.70, close to 70% below the $25.57 all-time high it managed to hit last year. You have to go back to May 2020 to find the last time Kogan hit these prices.

Turning to mining operational company Monadelphous, and there is no obvious reason this company shed a substantial 10% last week. Perhaps investors just wanted a change of flavour. The same can’t be said of miner Iluka Resources. This company gave an update on its Sierra Rutile project last week. The company discussed production issues and announced a reassessment of the whole operation. This evidently did not impress the markets.

Now with the losers out of the way, let’s take a gander at the winning ASX 200 shares:

Best ASX 200 gainers	% gain for the week
Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)	19.4%
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO)	13.1%
Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD)	11.9%
Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX: GOR)	9.8%

Last week’s winner Appen is a company that is slowly regaining the trust of investors, it seems. Appen shares were walloped earlier this month after the company’s CEO gave an evidently uninspiring presentation. But things seem to be turning around for Appen in investors’ eyes. The company announced a restructuring plan last week, which seems to have redeemed it somewhat. Appen is now up close to 20% since 14 May. But it’s also down close to 70% from its 2020 all-time high.

Xero is another ASX tech share that seems to be in recovery mode after a tough few weeks. There was no major news out of the accounting software company, so perhaps investors were just seeing a ‘buy-the-dip’ opportunity.

Likewise, there wasn’t a lot of official reasons why Corporate Travel Management shares were in demand last week. Perhaps the ongoing vaccine rollouts are giving investors some optimism with this one. And finally, Gold Road Resources was the best performing ASX gold miner last week. Gold prices have been on the rise again recently after a couple of month of stagnation. Gold Road appears to be the favourite play here.

A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares

Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares as we start on yet another week in paradise:

ASX 200 company	Trailing P/E ratio	Last share price	52-week high	52-week low
CSL Limited (ASX: CSL)	37.96	$284.30	$320.42	$242
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA)	21.81	$98.05	$98.84	$58.65
Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC)	21.95	$25.65	$26.43	$14.99
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ)	16.96	$28	$29.55	$15.19
National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB)	20.32	$26.47	$27.84	$15.22
Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG)	8.43	$22.30	$26.40	$12.95
Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW)	37.02	$41.48	$42.57	$33.82
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)	32.69	$54.21	$56.40	$38.08
BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)	27.08	$47.75	$51.82	$33.73
Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO)	15.86	$122.12	$132.94	$90.04
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)	21.11	$16.60	$19.26	$14.97
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)	23.02	$3.43	$3.58	$2.66
Transurban Group (ASX: TCL)	–	$13.84	$15.64	$12.36
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD)	–	$5.85	$7.49	$4.99
Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM)	18.06	$27.78	$38.15	$23.08
Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL)	–	$21.61	$27.60	$16.80
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG)	18.35	$151.28	$162.06	$102.45
Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT)	–	$93	$160.05	$41.68

And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:

• S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,030.3 points.
• All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,265.3 points.
• Dow Jones Industrial Average at 34,208 points after rising 0.36% on Friday night (our time).
• Bitcoin going for US$33,500 per coin.
• Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,882 per troy ounce.
• Iron ore asking US$191.60 per tonne.
• Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$66.44 per barrel.
• Australian dollar buying 77.28 US cents.
• 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.67% per annum.

That’s all folks. See you next week!

More reading

• 2 quality ASX 200 tech shares that might be buys
• Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated
• 2 ASX dividend shares analysts rate as buys
• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook

The post ASX 200 Weekly Wrap: ASX whipsaws in volatile week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Tech shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) could be worth looking at because of the underlying growth that they’re achieving.

Businesses that have fallen a bit in recent times might be better value than a few weeks ago.

Hub24 Ltd (ASX: HUB)

The Hub24 share price has fallen by around 10% over the last month.

It’s currently rated as a buy by the broker Credit Suisse which has a price target on Hub24 of $27.70.

Hub24 is one of the larger ASX fintech businesses. The Hub24 platform offers advisers and their clients a large range of investment options including managed portfolios, enhanced transaction and reporting functionality.

It also owns HUBconnect, which focuses on leveraging data and technology to provide solutions to challenges for licensees and advisors, and helps with the delivery of professional advice to Australians.

Hub24 recently revealed its update for the quarter to 31 March 2021. It experienced a record quarter of net inflows of $1.9 billion, which was an increase of 41% year on year and $0.2 billion higher than the last quarter.

Its funds under administration (FUA) is now $51.4 billion, including the acquisition Xplore Wealth which contributed $17.2 billion as at 31 March 2021 with platform FUA of $35.6 billion (up 136% year on year).

The ASX 200 tech share’s new business pipeline continues to grow with 28 new licensee agreements signed during the March quarter, with large boutique licensees, self-licensed practices and a new distribution agreement with an existing Xplore client where additional Hub24 products will be offered alongside the current Xplore solutions.

According to Credit Suisse’s forecast, the Hub24 share price is valued at 49x FY22’s estimated earnings.

TechnologyOne Ltd (ASX: TNE)

The TechnologyOne share price has also fallen around 10% over the last month.

It’s Australia’s largest enterprise software company with offices across six countries. It provides a global software as a service (SaaS) enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution to help customers get access to high-quality software anytime. It has over 1,200 corporations, government agencies, local councils and universities as clients.

UBS currently rates TechnologyOne shares as a buy with a price target of $9.15. UBS likes the Australian government growth, stronger UK position and the SaaS growth.

The business is due to hand in its FY21 half-year result this week, but the FY20 result included a number of growth measures. TechnologyOne saw underlying profit before tax increase by 13% for the year. SaaS annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 32% to $134.6 million.

TechnologyOne explained that its SaaS ERP solution helped when COVID-19 hit. Customers could seamlessly shift to remote working. Management said that COVID-19 has reinforced the significant value proposition of its software.

In FY20 the ASX 200 tech share continued to win new, large enterprise competitors. More than 30 organisations replaced its competitors’ systems, including from Oracle, SAP and Microsoft.

As the broker pointed out, it continues to dominate in the local government sector. It has closed 40 major deals with more than $45 million in total contract value. It now has more than 300 council customers. According to UBS, it’s valued at 38x FY21’s estimated earnings.

More reading

• 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday
• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook
• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 rises, Kogan sinks, EML soars

The post 2 quality ASX 200 tech shares that might be buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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If you’re a growth investor, then you’re in luck. The local share market is home to a number of top companies that have the potential to grow strongly in the future.

Three top ASX growth shares that have been tipped as buys are listed below. Here’s why they are highly rated:

IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL)

The first growth share to look at is IDP Education. It is a provider of international student placement services and English language testing services. Although the immediate term will be tough because of the pandemic, it has been tipped to bounce back strongly once the crisis passes. In fact, analysts expect the company to exit the pandemic in a stronger position than when it entered it. As a result, it is being tipped to win market share and resume its rapid growth once trading conditions return to normal. UBS is positive on its future. It recently put a buy rating and $29.05 price target on its shares.

NEXTDC Ltd (ASX: NXT)

Another growth share to look at is NEXTDC. It is a leading data centre operator which has been a big winner from the structural shift to the cloud. This shift is underpinning a surge in demand for data centre capacity, underpinning strong revenue and operating earnings growth. Another positive is the significant amount of its future capacity already contracted. This will be billed over the coming years, driving further growth, which could be given an added boost by a probable expansion into the Asian market. Offices have been opened in Singapore and Tokyo, and NEXTDC is actively assessing its options. Morgan Stanley is confident in its growth prospects and has put an overweight rating and $14.60 price target on its shares.

Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P)

A third growth share to consider is this rapidly growing buy now pay later provider. Zip has delivered explosive sales growth in recent years thanks to the increasing popularity of the payment method and its international expansion. This is particularly the case in the massive United States market, where its QuadPay business has really impressed. The good news is that it is still only scratching at the surface in this key market, potentially giving Zip a very long runway for growth over the next decade. This should be supported by its expansion in Europe. Morgans is confident on its future. It recently put an add rating and $10.30 price target on the company’s shares.

More reading

• The Cettire (ASX:CTT) share price is set to mint a new rich lister
• 2 fantastic ASX shares with long runways for growth
• Why the Afterpay (ASX:APT) share price is up 10% this week
• 2 highly rated ASX growth shares
• 3 top ASX 200 shares that could be in the buy zone

The post Why Zip (ASX:Z1P) and these ASX growth shares are highly rated appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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With interest rates likely to remain low for some time to come, the dividend shares listed below could be top options for anyone seeking a passive income stream.

Here’s why these dividend shares are rated as buys:

Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)

The first option for income investors to consider is Coles. This supermarket operator could be a good option due to its solid business model and very positive long term growth outlook.

And while its growth may be limited in the immediate term due to elevated sales in the prior corresponding period, this short term headwind will soon ease and then Coles has been tipped to resume its growth. This should lead to growing dividends over the coming years.

Goldman Sachs expects this to be the case and is forecasting dividends per share of 62 cents in FY 2021 and then 66 cents in FY 2022. Based on the current Coles share price of $16.60, this will mean fully franked yields of 3.7% and 4%, respectively, over the next two years.

The broker has a buy rating and $20.50 price target on the company’s shares.

More reading

• The ANZ (ASX:ANZ) share price leads the ASX 200 banks this week
• 2 ASX dividend shares that could offer yields of 5% or more today
• Consumer sentiment is down 5% this month: Westpac
• ASX bank shares primed for dividend bonanza
• 2 high quality ASX shares for your retirement portfolio

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On Friday the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished a mildly positive week with a small gain. The benchmark index rose 0.15% to 7,030.3 points.

Will the market be able to build on this on Monday? Here are five things to watch:

ASX 200 futures pointing lower

The Australian share market looks set to start the week on a subdued note. According to the latest SPI futures, the ASX 200 is expected to open the week 5 points or 0.1% lower this morning following a mixed finish on Wall Street. In the United States on Friday, the Dow Jones rose 0.35%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1%, and the Nasdaq tumbled 0.5%.

Aristocrat Leisure half year results

The Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) share price will be one to watch this morning when it releases its half year results. The gaming technology company expects to report a 12% increase in normalised net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles (NPATA) to $412 million. This has been driven by stronger than expected performances from both its Gaming and Digital businesses.

Oil prices jump

It could be a good start to the week for energy producers such as Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) after oil prices jumped on Friday. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price rose 2.7% to US$63.58 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price climbed 2% to US$66.44 a barrel. This wasn’t enough to stop both benchmarks from recording weekly declines.

Gold price softens

Gold miners including Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) and Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) will be on watch today after the gold price softened on Friday night. According to CNBC, the spot gold price fell 0.3% to US$1,878.9 an ounce. Despite this, the precious metal recorded a 2.2% gain for the week.

Iron ore price slides again

BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) shares could come under pressure today after the iron ore price continued to slide. According to Metal Bulletin, the spot iron ore price has fallen a sizeable 5.3% to US$200.72 a tonne.

More reading

• ASX gold shares can thank bitcoin for their brightening outlook
• Top brokers name 3 ASX shares to buy next week
• These were the best performers on the ASX 200 last week
• These were the worst performers on the ASX 200 last week
• ASX 200 shares cashing in on the rising gold price this week

The post 5 things to watch on the ASX 200 on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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At the small end of the Australian share market, there are a number of companies with the potential to grow materially in the future.

Three that investors might want to get better acquainted with are listed below. Here’s what you need to know about them:

Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8)

Audinate is the digital audio-visual networking technologies provider behind the popular Dante audio over IP networking solution. This solution is used across a number of industries and is the clear industry leader. This puts the company in a great position to benefit from increasing demand once the pandemic passes. In fact, pent-up demand is already showing, with Audinate reporting its highest ever quarterly revenue during the third quarter.

Booktopia Group Ltd (ASX: BKG)

The second small cap ASX share to watch is Booktopia. This online book retailer has been growing at an explosive rate since its IPO late last year. For example, during the first half, the company reported a 51.1% increase in revenue to $112.6 million and a 502.3% jump in underlying EBITDA to $8 million. It then followed this up with a 53% increase in quarterly revenue during the third quarter. Management advised that this strong growth is being driven by the shift to online shopping and its new distribution centre. The latter is allowing the company to ship more books than ever.

Pointerra Ltd (ASX: 3DP)

A final small cap to watch is Pointerra. It is a technology company that provides a powerful cloud-based solution for managing, visualising, working in, analysing, using, and sharing massive 3D point clouds and datasets. Pointerra’s platform can extract vital information from the data that would otherwise take many hours to do. Management estimates that its market opportunity is currently worth an enormous $500 billion annually. While it might be best to take that estimate with a pinch of salt, it does demonstrate its material growth potential over the next decade and beyond.

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