3 ASX stocks that smashed the market today

ASX rises 0.6%, but these three added more than 5%

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 February 18, 2013 4:18 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has finished up 0.6%, closing at 5,063.4, on the back of positive earnings reports from a number of well-known companies, and despite CBA and Telstra going ex-dividend today.

The Australian dollar is trading slightly lower against the US dollar, fetching US 102.9 cents.

These three stocks were the best performers in the ASX 200, rising by more than 5%.

BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) rocketed up $15.4%, closing at $4.35, after Australia's biggest steelmaker posted an underlying first-half profit of $10 million, a $500 million turnaround from the previous year, when it was forced to pay redundancy and restructuring costs. CEO Paul O'Malley said this is the first time since the GFC that the company is poised to profit even if Australian steel demand remains weak.

Arrium Limited – ex-OneSteel (ASX: ARI) rose 6.8% to close at $1.26, possibly on the announcement that its chief executive of Arrium Mining Consumables, Andrew Roberts would be taking over from Geoff Plummer as managing director and CEO. Formerly a steel making business, Arrium has expanded into iron ore mining and a boost in production is expected to see Arrium become Australia's fourth largest producer of iron ore.

Financial services provider Flexigroup Limited (ASX: FXL) climbed 5.2% to end at $4.25. The company reported a 16% increase in net profit for the first half of 2013 last week, and signalled that it is making a big push into the small business market. Many small businesses prefer to rent equipment rather than buy it outright, and Flexigroup sees an opportunity to grow its business further.

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