The ASX was slightly lower today after losing gains late in the trading day.
The S&P/ASX200 lost 5.4 points or 0.01% to 8,374. Over the last five days, the index is virtually unchanged but is currently 1.79% below its 52-week high. The ASX hit a six-month low yesterday on the back of Trump’s tariffs but steadied today after the US President put the tariffs on pause.
Two top performing stocks in this index were Megaport Ltd, which will release its 1H FY25 Appendix 4D and Half Year Financial Report on February 20, and Zip Co Ltd, up 5.51% and 5.04% respectively.
It was a mixed bag for sectors today with Energy the worst performing down 0.43%. Information technology climbed 1.43% higher.
Small cap gains
Over on the small cap index, the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries gained 0.67% to 3,181.50. Over the past five days, the index has gained 0.07%.
Apollo Minerals Ltd made a strong move, rising as much as 53.85% to a daily high of $0.02, Antipa Minerals Ltd hit $0.037, an increase of 15.63% on the previous close and a high of more than two years, and Latrobe Magnesium Ltd lifted 14.29% to reach $0.016.
Other increases among the small caps were Predictive Discovery Ltd, which was as much as 13.21% up on the previous close on news of a private placement that raised A$69 million, Magnetite Mines Ltd reached $0.105, a move of 9.38%, Orthocell Ltd was up 6.13% to $1.56, Ora Banda Mining Ltd increased 6.1% to $0.87, Polymetals Resources Ltd pushed 6.03% higher to $0.88 and Tolu Minerals Ltd traded to $0.89, a rise of 5.95%.
Zip Co offsets some of losses
The rise in share price today was some relief for Zip Co. which has dipped from $3.28 on January 7 to a low of $2.30 yesterday. Today, the company climbed slightly back to $2.38.
The company released its 2Q F25 results on January 30, reporting record Total Transaction Volume (TTV), revenue and cash EBTDA for the quarter.
Zip continued its strong momentum and delivered record TTV of $3.4 billion, revenue of $269.4 million and cash EBTDA of $35.3 million driven by an exceptional holiday trading period.
2Q25 group highlights
- Cash EBTDA of $35.3 million (up 50.2% vs 2Q24).
- TTV of $3.4 billion (up 24.8% vs 2Q24).
- Revenue of $269.4 million (up 20.5% vs 2Q24).
- Revenue margin of 7.9% (vs 8.2% in 2Q24).
- Transactions of 24.4 million (up 18.1% vs 2Q24).
- Net bad debts approximately 1.5% of TTV (vs 1.7% of TTV in 2Q24).
- Cash transaction margin of 3.6% (vs 3.5% in 2Q24).
- Active customers at quarter end of 6.3m (up 1.5% vs 2Q24).
Merchants on Zip’s platforms increased to 81,900 (up 7.6% vs 2Q24), including the addition of Heritage Grocersin the US and Lagardère Travel Retail, Travello and James Pascoe Group (Prouds, Angus & Coote and Goldmark) in Australia
“Zip continued to deliver strong growth and momentum in the second quarter, achieving a record set of results, with group cash EBTDA of $35.3 million, TTV of $3.4 billion and revenue of $269.4 million," group CEO and managing director Cynthia Scott said.
"These results reinforce our ability to drive ongoing operating leverage and deliver on our significant growth opportunity.
“Our strong performance was driven by outstanding US growth, with year-on-year TTV and revenue growth of 38.3% and 41.0% respectively, driven by an exceptional holiday trading period which included the single largest trading day and month in Zip’s history.
"Importantly, we are meeting the needs of our customers, with US customer engagement growing strongly and the business delivering a second consecutive quarter of active customer growth, up 7.0% quarter-on-quarter and 6.2% year-on-year.
“ANZ TTV returned to growth year-on-year, driven by a strong increase in transaction numbers.
"Our focus on margin improvement and the rollout of Zip Plus has delivered an increase in the Australian portfolio yield, up 110 basis points year-on-year to 18.6%, another strong result in a high-interest rate environment.
"The business is well-positioned to deliver on further product innovation and marketing initiatives in the second half of FY25 to drive profitable growth.
“We remain focused on delivering our FY25 strategic priorities of growth and engagement, product innovation and operational excellence and fulfilling our purpose of unlocking financial potential, together.”
Five at five
FireFly Metals focused on growing copper-gold resource at Green Bay in Canada
A highly productive December quarter at the Green Bay Copper-Gold Project in Newfoundland, Canada, has put FireFly Metals Ltd in a strong position to drive further value “by demonstrating the immense production upside”, according to managing director Steve Parsons.
Predictive Discovery secures A$69 million in placement to Lundin Family and Zijin Mining
In a significant financial boost and strong show of confidence, Predictive Discovery Ltd has secured binding commitments from the Lundin Family and Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd to raise about A$69.2 million in a strategic private placement at an issue price of A$0.265 per share.
AuMEGA Metals buoyed by positive signs from airborne magnetic survey at Hermitage
AuMEGA Metals Ltd has received positive signs from a high-resolution airborne magnetic geophysical survey over the Hermitage Gold-Antimony Project in south-central Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
D3 Energy positioned to leverage ongoing helium market strength
Helium and natural gas company D3 Energy Ltd has confirmed significant helium and gas potential in South Africa as demand for the commodities outstrip supply.
NGX produces higher-value spherical graphite from rejected fines
NGX Limited has taken a significant step forward in unlocking its value-add process for the Malingunde Graphite Project in Malawi by producing spherical graphite from previously rejected fines material.
On your six
UBS upgrades News Corp to Buy, downgrades Nine
UBS analyst Evan Karatzas sees upside in News Corp to the tune of 30% based on his sum-of-the-parts valuation.
The one to watch
Just the Facts: Cadoux advances HPA and Minhub projects toward production
Proactive’s Tylah Tully breaks down ‘Just the Facts’ of the latest news from Cadoux Ltd. The company has provided its December 2024 quarterly update, detailing progress on its two critical minerals projects.