Last Orders: Small caps just under 12-year high after great week

It’s been a good week to be a small-cap investor – in fact, the best week in two months.

The Small Ordinaries closed Friday up 1.03 per cent to finish the week up 3.55 per cent at 3,190.3 – just shy of its highest level since June 2008.

The index of 200 small-cap companies gained every day this week except yesterday, and clawed back all but a tiny fraction of those losses today.

The ASX200 gained as well, climbing 1.11 per cent on Friday to finish the week up 3.53 per cent. The Emerging Companies nano-cap index rose 1.09 per cent to finish the week up 3.93 per cent.

Every sector was up except mining and utilities, which were both down slightly. Industrials and tech stocks gained the most, collectively rising 2.4 per cent, with Afterpay (ASX:APT) buoying the tech sector with a 3.4 per cent gain to $151.30 after Bell Potter raised its price target to $168.50.

Competitor (and social media favourite) Zip Co (ASX:Z1P) also seemed to move on the broker upgrade, rising 8.0 per cent to $8.68 — its highest level since August, when Z1P shares neared $10.

ASX small cap news

Anax Metals (ASX:ANX) was among the biggest gainers, soaring 66 per cent to 7.8c after the junior explorer announced “outstanding” drilling results at its Whim Creek copper-zinc project in the West Pilbara.

Ecograf (ASX:EGR) soared 41.8 per cent to an all-time high of 69.5c after announcing it would pursue trading on the over-the-counter markets in the United States after surging interest in the electric vehicle supply chain there, following initiatives by President Joe Biden.

Actinogen Medical (ASX:ACW) rose 28.6 per cent to a three month high of 2.7c after the US Food and Drug Administration granted its drug candidate Xanamen a rare paediatric disease designation in Fragile X Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, easing Xanamen’s pathway to market.

Cannabis companies ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) and MGC Pharmaceuticals (ASX:MXC) were both up more than 20 per cent, with the latter possibly bolstered by its listing on the London Stock Exchange and the latter possibly boosted by its acquisition of Tasmanian cannabis cultivator Murray Meds.

ECS shares closed at 7c, their best-ever close as a cannabis company. (It listed in a reverse takeover of Axxis Technology in 2019).

Wisr (ASX:WZR) jumped 7.9 per cent to 20.5c, after the neo-lender announced Monday its first-half revenue had risen 354 per cent to $10 million, compared to a year ago.