The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is enjoying a moderately positive end to the trading week so far this Friday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is up by 0.15%, close to 6,580 points. But the Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) share price is doing far better.
Zip shares are on fire today. The buy now, pay later (BNPL) company is now up by a pleasing 11.36% at 49 cents per share after it closed at 44 cents yesterday (a new 52-week low).
So what's behind this impressive performance this Friday?
Well, the first thing to note is that, although Zip is having a spectacular day today, it hasn't exactly made up for its recent bout of underperformance just yet. Even after this move, the zip share price remains down by almost 12% over the past five trading days alone. It's also lost more than 40% over just the past month, and more than 88% in 2022 thus far.
Image source: Getty Images
Why are Zip shares rocketing 11% today?
So there's always the possibility that investors have simply decided Zip has gone low enough, and are bidding the shares back up today.
But we also have some news to discuss which could be playing a role here.
Zip's fellow BNPL share Openpay Ltd (ASX: OPY) has put out an "operational update" today. This confirmed to investors that the company was pulling out of the United Kingdom market, as well as implementing an indefinite "pause" for its existing US operations.
On this news the Openpay share price has risen a whopping 25% so far today, rising from 12 cents to 15 cents. This could be flowing through to the Zip share price today as well.
Whatever the true reason for Zip's rocket-like gains today, it will no doubt be a welcome development for shareholders.
At the current Zip share price, this ASX 200 BNPL company has a market capitalisation of $333.6 million.
