3 ASX stocks that slammed the market today

ASX rises for tenth-straight session, but these three added 6% or more

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 January 30, 2013 5:17 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has added 0.2% today, rising for the tenth-straight session, to close at 4,898.3, after US markets rose overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 indices both added 0.5%.

The Australian dollar has fallen slightly against the US dollar, currently buying around 104.6 US cents.

These three stocks were the best performers in the ASX 200, rising 6% or more.

Mirabela Nickel Limited (ASX:MBN) jumped 10.2% to 48.5 cents. Perhaps surprisingly (or not), Mirabela's share price is trading around the same price it was 9 years ago. What is hard to believe is that the company's share price hit more than $7.40 in May 2008. Although, those price movements may reflect the inherent dangers of investing in commodity stocks with very little control over the price of their main product. With nickel prices in the doldrums, Mirabela has a long way to go to reach the heights it achieved in 2008.

Acrux Limited (ASX:ACR) added 8.1%, closing at $3.46. The healthcare company is marketing a number of products that are administered through the skin, and has teamed up with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to market several of its products globally. After seeing the share price fall more than 30% in the last six months, investors may have become interested again.

Oil and gas explorer and producer, AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) rose 6% to finish at $1.24, after the company announced that its BassGas project had restarted production, and a 7% increase in quarterly sales to $77 million compared to the previous year. AWE is working on ways to expand its growth and recently sealed a deal to take over a proposed $600 million project in Indonesia.

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