Spain’s reputation for shitty art restoration has become a real problem.

Eight years ago, a devoted parishioner’s attempt to restore a painting of Jesus on the wall of a church made headlines around the world.

The infamous ‘Monkey Christ’ fresco now has some competition after a copy of a painting by baroque artist Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was cleaned by a furniture restorer.

Here’s the before and after:

It’s the latest in a long line of artworks to suffer from damaging and disfiguring (arguably hilarious) repair, according to the Guardian.

Another restoration highlight left a 16th-century statue of Saint George and the dragon in northern Spain “resembling Tintin or a Playmobil figure”.

 

In global markets…

On Tuesday, Wall Street’s three main indexes were up as improving economic data and the possibility of more stimulus boosted hopes of a swift recovery.

Investors were also reassured by Trump’s statement that the US-China trade deal remained in place.

European shares closed at their highest in almost two weeks on signs that business activity was rebounding faster than expected.

BlackRock indicated it was ‘warming up’ to European assets, Morningstar says, “following what it called the eurozone’s ‘impressive’ efforts to tackle the coronavirus and is considering an upgrade to European equities”.

Even scandal-ridden payments company Wirecard bounced 18.8 per cent after shedding more than 140 per cent in the past three sessions.

Meanwhile, the gold futures price rose by $US15.60 to $US1,782 ($2,560) an ounce – a seven year high.

READ: 3 reasons why gold stocks can outperform if inflation starts to rise

 

WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday June 24:

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CODE COMPANY PRICE CHANGE MARKET CAP
BSM Bass Metals 0.003 50.00% $6.4M
DLC Delecta 0.007 40.00% $3.5M
IXU IXUP 0.02 33.33% $3.3M
MEI Meteoric Resources 0.035 29.63% $32.8M
FFR Firefly Resources 0.05 25.00% $3.2M
HSC Homestay Care 0.005 25.00% $6.7M
SOR Strategic Elements 0.08 23.08% $18.6M
YOJ Yojee 0.064 20.75% $52.2M
RGL Riversgold 0.067 24.07% $16.9M
WRM White Rock Minerals 0.006 20.00% $11.8M
DRE Dreadnought Resources 0.006 20.00% $9.4M
TNP Triple Energy 0.006 20.00% $360K
NES Nelson Resources 0.058 18.37% $2.6M
SLX Silex Systems 0.53 17.78% $77.8M
STN Saturn Metals 0.6 17.65% $42.9M
ZMI Zinc of Ireland 0.049 19.51% $5.0M
WNB Wellness Beauty Solutions 0.007 16.67% $7.7M
PMY Pacifico Minerals 0.007 16.67% $17.3M
NVO Nvoi 0.016 23.08% $23.4M
TPS Threat Protect Australia 0.046 15.00% $9.6M
SLZ Sultan Resources 0.155 14.81% $6.4M
NVU Nanoveu 0.079 14.49% $9.1M
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Explorer Delecta (ASX:DLC) jumped 40 per cent after acquiring an interest in the REX uranium-vanadium project in the US state of Colorado.

There are four historic uranium mines within the project area not subject to recent exploration, the company says.

And within trucking distance is the White Mesa mill, the only operating conventional uranium-vanadium mill in the US which has 90 per cent spare capacity available to toll treat locally mined ore.

READ: Is this uranium’s renaissance or another false dawn?

Meteoric Resources (ASX:MEI) has kicked off exploration at the soon-to-be acquired Palm Springs gold project in WA.

The company, which is commencing this WA exploration program in tandem with its current drilling program in Brazil at its Juruena project, was up ~30 per cent in morning trade.

A US institutional investor will inject about $1.9m to help accelerate exploration drilling and resource definition at Saturn Metal’s (ASX:STN) flagship 781,000oz Apollo Hill gold project near Leonora in WA.

The placement was completed at 50c per share – a tiny discount to the last closing price of 51c. The stock was hitting all-time highs of 60c per share in morning trade Wednesday.

And a new airborne drone capability is now in development to accompany Strategic Elements’ (ASX:SOR) ground-based robotic vehicle.

Investors are taking notice, with SOR shares following up yesterday’s 18 per cent gain with a rise of more than 25 per cent at the opening bell this morning.

 

LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm Wednesday June 24:

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CODE COMPANY PRICE CHANGE MARKET CAP
UUV UUV Aquabotix 0.001 -33.33% $757K
RED Red 5 0.235 -29.85% $460.3M
BIQ BuildingIQ 0.005 -28.57% $1.9M
ADD Adavale Resources 0.011 -26.67% $1.9M
FTT Factor Therapeutics 0.003 -25.00% $3.3M
FBR Fastbrick Robotics 0.035 -22.22% $62.9M
CTO Citigold Corporation 0.004 -20.00% $10.4M
ALT Analytica 0.002 -20.00% $3.5M
OAR Oakdale Resources 0.002 -20.00% $1.4M
VAL Valor Resources 0.002 -20.00% $3.8M
MGT Magnetite Mines 0.002 -20.00% $4.5M
IMS Impelus 0.004 -20.00% $3.2M
SBR Sabre Resources 0.002 -20.00% $1.7M
FNP Freedom Foods 2.86 -18.75% $975.4M
TMK Tamaska Oil and Gas 0.005 -16.67% $5.3M
BKY Berkeley Energy 0.415 -15.31% $126.7M
LCK Leigh Creek Energy 0.078 -15.22% $58.4M
VIP VIP Globes 0.034 -15.00% $26.2M
TMX Terrain Minerals 0.006 -14.29% $5.1M
DDD 3D Resources 0.003 -14.29% $9.9M
KGM Kalnorth Gold Mines 0.006 -14.29% $6.3M
FAR FAR 0.012 -14.29% $139.7M
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