Last Orders: Small caps retreat for 2nd day, but Zip closes at ATH

Small caps have closed lower for the second day in a row, finishing the week in the red.

The Small Ordinaries index dropped 18.1 points, or 0.57 per cent, on Friday, to close the week down 21.5 points, or 0.67 per cent.

Large caps dropped about the same amount, with the ASX100 down 0.62 per cent. All sectors were in the red except telecom shares, which rose 0.35 per cent. Energy was the worst hit, falling 1.3 per cent.

The Small Ords dropped throughout the day but rebounded slightly in the final minutes of trade.

But Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) fanboys were celebrating after the buy now, pay later company closed at $10.83, its best finish ever.

Z1P shares hit an intraday all-time high of $11.65 on Thursday and, based on Friday’s finish, are up 104.7 per cent on the year.

Citi research released on Wednesday found Zip app downloads and website visits in Australia were again growing faster than Afterpay (ASX:APT), said Bell Direct market analyst Jessica Amir.

“Even though there are not any brokers in Australia saying Zip is undervalued – clearly investors believe it is,” she said.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) also hit an all-time high, soaring 15.7 per cent to $2.36 after the Melbourne drugmaker signed a research agreement with Merck & Co (MSD) to explore anti-cancer antibody drugs based on Starpharma’s dendrimer technology.

Small-cap news

Fintechs Ioupay (ASX:IOU) and Douugh (ASX:DOU) both had very good days, climbing 54.4 per cent to 44c and 47.1 per cent to 25c, respectively, even though neither company released any news.

Fatfish Group (ASX:FFG) climbed 23.3 per cent to 5.3c before FFG shares were put in a trading halt so the company could respond to an ASX price query.

Design Milk (ASX:DMC) climbed 11.1 per cent to a more than one-year high of 1c after the interior design company held an extraordinary general meeting regarding share allocations.

Academies Australasia (ASX:AKG) fell 10.5 per cent to 34c after the college chain announced its half-year net profit was down 32 per cent to $1.3 million, given the border closures to international students.

Eden Innovations (ASX:EDE) gained 2.4 per cent to 4.3c announcing the first-ever waste transfer station using its EdenCrete cement additive would be built in the US state of Georgia.