3 ASX stocks that performed the best yesterday

The sharemarket is on the up, but these ASX 200 shares did even better.

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published May 2, 2012 11:16 am AEST

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) was up 32.9 points to 4,429.5, a move of 0.75 per cent yesterday. The index jumped to a high of 4,448.5, immediately after the Reserve Bank cut interest rates by 0.5 percent, but tapered off during the rest of the afternoon's trading session.

Several stocks did much better than the index, with six stocks posting gains of over 4 per cent. Here we take a look at the three ASX 200 stocks that moved the most.

GWA International Limited (ASX: GWA) climbed 5.85% to $2.08. The building fixtures and fittings supplier, which includes well known brands like Caroma, Dux and Gainsborough, downgraded expectations in April, stating trading conditions were more difficult than expected. It appears that some investors anticipated the rate cut, with the company's shares opening 5 cents higher and climbing another 6 cents throughout the day.

The interest rate cut should bring some relief to the company, and possibly spur growth in new housing starts and renovations.

AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) climbed 4.87% to close at $1.83. AWE is an oil and gas explorer, developer and producer, currently facing issues with its BassGas project, in Bass Strait near Tasmania. You can read more about the issues in this article, I wrote last week.

The share price appears to have jumped thanks to a broker upgrading the stock from "neutral" to "buy", due to recent price weakness. Before yesterday, AWE's shares had fallen by more than 13% in the last month.

Interestingly, the same broker downgraded the company from "buy" to "neutral" just over a week ago (on 24th April 2012), causing the stock to fall more than 5% that day.

Cudeco Limited (ASX: CDU) moved up 4.68% to close at $3.58. The copper explorer released its quarterly report on 30th April 2012, with the company announcing that it had received approval from the Queensland government, for the "Plan of Operations". This is for the Rocklands Group Copper project, 100km east of Mt Isa, in North-west Queensland. The approval clears the way for the company to begin construction of the 3 million tonne per annum process plant, which is expected to produce approximately 480,000 tonnes of Copper/Gold, Pyrite/Cobalt and Magnetite concentrates per year.

Copper is currently trading at around A$8,254 per tonne.

The company announced that construction would begin immediately.

Other notable movers include Seek Limited (ASX: SEK) up 4.47%, Envestra Limited (ASX: ENV) up 4.46% and Saracen Minerals Limited (ASX: SAR) up 4.3%.

Ramelius Resources Limited (ASX: RMS) was the biggest loser on the day, falling by over 24%, after releasing a disappointing quarterly report.

The ASX is already on the move in 2012, and Goldman Sachs experts recently said they reckon S&P/ASX 200 could top 5,000 next year. Read This Before The Coming Market Rally is a must-read for investors who don't want to miss out on the party. Click here now to request your free copy, before it's too late.

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Motley Fool contributor Mike King owns shares in Saracen Minerals. Take Stock is The Motley Fool Australia's free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Click here now to request your free subscription, whilst it's still available. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691).

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