The S&P / ASX 300 Index (Index: ^AXKO) (ASX: XKO) rose 2% for the week, to close at 4063.7, shrugging off economic issues affecting Europe and the US, and concerns over stalling Chinese growth. The best performing sectors were Energy and Information Technology, both rising by 3.5%.
The following is a list of selected stocks that jumped by 7% or more last week, comfortably beating the index.
| Company | Market Cap ($) | Last price | Sector | Weekly move (%) |
| Becton Property Group Ltd (ASX: BEC) | 5m | $0.65 | Property | 58.5 |
| Phillips River Mining Ltd (ASX: PRH) | 14m | $0.215 | Gold, silver, copper exploration | 35.3 |
| Swick Mining Services Ltd (ASX: SWK) | 70m | $0.295 | Mining services | 14.3 |
| NewSat Limited (ASX: NWT) | 187m | $0.81 | Satellite services | 13.0 |
| Resource Equipment Ltd (ASX: RQL) | 98m | $0.395 | Mining, Oil and Gas services | 12.9 |
| Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) | 612m | $2.78 | Gold mining | 10.9 |
| Doray Minerals Limited (ASX: DRM) | 71m | $0.88 | Gold exploration | 10.0 |
| Kingsrose Mining Limited (ASX: KRM) | 359m | $1.28 | Gold mining | 9.6 |
| Salmat Limited (ASX: SLM) | 371m | $2.34 | Corporate services, 'junk' mail | 8.4 |
| FlexiGroup Limited(ASX: FXL) | 679m | $2.45 | Financial services | 7.0 |
Source: Australian Financial Review market data and Google Finance
Somewhat surprisingly, several gold miners and explorers did well last week, despite the price of gold falling from over US$1,610 at the beginning of the week, to US$1,593 currently. The Gold Index (Index: ^AXGD) (ASX: XGD) rose by just 0.7%.
Silver Lake Resources pulled out of a bid for Phillips River in March 2012, but did agree to buy the company's Munglinup project in Western Australia. Phillips River shares fell 38% to 16 cents following the announcement, but recovered by more than 30% in the last week.
Becton
Becton Property rocketed up 58.5%, thanks to news that three funds management companies had purchased close to half the shares in the group. The company had been struggling to refinance a $73m loan with Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN), and had been arguably priced for oblivion.
Newsat
Newsat was up 13% and trading volumes have jumped from around 200,000 shares to over 500,000 shares per day in the last three months. Newsat is targeting the launch of Australia's first satellite, Jabiru-1, sometime in the December quarter of 2014. In a response to the ASX's 'speeding ticket' today, the company advised that it was still in discussions to finalise the majority of funding required to launch the satellite, but had no confirmed deal to announce. The company had initially expected to have this finalised by the end of May 2012.
Salmat
If you receive 'junk' mail, the majority of it will likely have come from Salmat. The company also provides a wide variety of other corporate services, and it was news that Salmat had received an unsolicited and conditional approach for its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) division that likely caused the company's shares to rise. The problem for Salmat is that the BPO division, which provides services to most of Australia's largest banks, telcos, utilities and government agencies, represents almost 40% of the company's revenues.
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Motley Fool contributor Mike King owns shares in Silver Lake. The Motley Fool's purpose is to help the world invest, better. Take Stock is The Motley Fool'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). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.
