Last Orders: What you might have missed on the ASX today

Small caps have suffered their worst day in five weeks as fears grow about new lockdowns following a cluster of coronavirus cases in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

The Small Ordinaries index of 100 small cap stocks closed Friday down 1.02 per cent to 3,070.6, its worst loss since a 1.04 per cent loss on November 10.

The index did outperform the ASX200, which fell 1.2 per cent to 6,675.5. Also, the Small Ords did finish the week in the green, with a 0.31 per cent gain – its seventh straight winning week.

Every sector other than utilities and mining were in the red, with tech, financials and property trusts all down more than two per cent.

Desert Metals (ASX:DM1) was one of the biggest gainers in its debut on the ASX, climbing 160 per cent from its IPO price of 20c to finish at 52c.

The junior explorer says it has high priority nickel and copper targets it will begin drilling early next year in the Yilgarn craton in Western Australia.

On the downside, Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) was the biggest loser on the bourse, finishing down 36.1 per cent to $2.41 following disappointing results for a clinical trial testing whether its stem cell treatment remestemcel-L could prevent death in severely ill COVID-19 patients.

Elsewhere on the exchange:

Announcements

– Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) dropped 5.8 per cent to 4.9c despite the smart lighting company announcing that its smart lights would integrate into a new Amazon Alexa energy dashboard, where consumers will be able to see how much electricity their lights are consuming.

– Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals (ASX:PAR) dipped 3.5 per cent to $2.45 after receiving positive feedback for from the US Food and Drug Administration for a phase 3 clinical trial of its potential osteoarthritis treatment, Zilosul. The company now hopes to enroll the first patient in its clinical trial in mid-2021.

– Micro-X (ASX:MX1) was flat at 38.5c after getting signing a contract with Saab Australia to supply $1.3 million worth of its Rover mobile x-ray devices for use by the Australian Department of Defence Force.

– Netlinkz (ASX:NET) dropped 1.6 per cent to 6c after the virtual secure network company secured $15.9 million in a share placement and debt offset.

– Impedimed (ASX:IPD) gained four per cent to 13c after the bioimpedance spectroscopy devicemaker announced it had received a customer data and security certification known as HITRUST.