Turns out that the infamous bin chickens – the much maligned ibis – are not the only birds that have taken to raiding our rubbish.

In New South Wales at least, cockatoos have learnt how to open the lids of waste bins to steal leftover food. Best of all, it’s spreading — the birds appear to be picking up the skill by observing others.

Antics of our favourite avian dinosaurs aside, the ASX seems set to close the week on a positive note.

The ASX200 is up 0.51% over the past week to 7,386.1 points this afternoon though the emerging companies index has dipped 0.01% to 2,202.2.

 

ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 16 – July 23 [intraday]:

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Predictive Discovery (ASX:PDI) +73.7%

Bonanza gold grades proved to be a winner for Predictive Discovery, which reported results such as 17m at 31.9 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from diamond drilling at its Bankan project in Guinea.

This builds on – and is bigger than – initial drilling in 2020 that returned numerous shallow, thick, and high-grade gold intercepts like 10m at 26.52g/t gold.

With results such as this, its unsurprising that the company would seek to accelerate drilling with the current multi-purpose rig focusing on further defining and extending the high-grade zone while a new truck mounted air core rig is being brought in to test the growing number of new targets.

Empired (ASX:EPD) +60.4%

Shares in Empired soared after the IT services provider received an all-cash offer of $1.35 per share from Cagemini Australia that values it at about $233m.

The offer, which was recommended by Empired’s board, represents a 59.3% premium to the 30-day volume weighted average price of the company’s shares.

Empired piled on the good news, announcing mid-week that it had won a $52m managed services contract with Victoria’s Environmental Protection Authority.

Dreadnought Resources (ASX:DRE) +45.8%

The confirmation of high-grade rare earth element ironstones over 2.5km of strike at the Yin prospect proved beneficial for explorer Dreadnought.

Notably, the total rare earth oxides and neodymium-praseodymium results exhibit similar mineralogical characteristics to Hastings’ Yangibana REE project that is located just 15km to the northeast.

Adding interest, a ground magnetic survey confirms that the Yin ironstones continue under shallow cover between outcrops.

 

ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 16 – July 23 [intraday]:

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