Last Orders: Sixth straight day of gains for small caps

Small caps have gained for a sixth straight day, even as their larger peers declined.

The Small Ordinaries index of Australia’s 101st to 300th biggest companies finished the week up 6.7 points, or 0.2 per cent, to a fresh 13-year high of 3,284.

The ASX200 was down 0.12 per cent, or 8.1 per cent, to 6,990.7, while the ASX50 dipped 0.5 per cent.

For the Easter-shortened week, the Small Ords was up 3.5 per cent, its best week in five.

The Emerging Companies nano-cap index rose 1.6 per cent on Friday to finish the week up 4.0 per cent.

Sectors were mixed on Friday, with property up 0.8 per cent, tech and telecom up 0.7 per cent and industrials and consumer discretionary shares up slightly. Other sectors were down, with consumer staples the biggest loser, declining 1.2 per cent.

Tech finished the short week up 7.8 per cent, its best weekly performance since June 2020.

Imugene (ASX:IMU) was the top performer in the All Ordinaries this week, gaining 50 per cent to 18c after making progress on a phase 1 clinical trial of its cancer vaccine.

Small cap news

AnteoTech (ASX:ADO) gained 3.1 per cent to 24.75c after the surface chemistry company joined “the Super Anode Project,” a four-year project to kick-start Australia’s battery industry.

Novatti Group (ASX:NOV) rose 4.0 per cent to 51.5c after the digital banking and payments company’s partnership with Ripple went live in the Philippines.

Universal Biosensor (ASX:UBI) gained 32.6 per cent to 63c after the electrochemical strip company agreed to worth with Lubris BioPharma to develop a blood test for cancer, based on detecting antigens expressed by many (but not all) cancers.

Kazia Therapeutics (ASX:KZA) dipped 3.7 per cent to $1.81 despite finalising a proposed dose of its anti-brain-cancer drug candidate, paxalisib. A stage 2 study drawing to its conclusion strongly supports once daily 60mg dosing, the company said.