Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX ends up 0.2% in yet another lack lustre day

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 July 18, 2013 4:29 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has had another lack lustre day rising just 0.2% to finish at 4,993.4. Our market clearly followed the lead from overseas, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average added a measly 0.1% and the S&P 500 managed a barely better 0.3%. That's despite US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke saying that the timeline to end its easing program was not set in stone, suggesting we could see significant stimulus measures for some time yet.

Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index.

Copper miner Discovery Metals (ASX:DML) added 12.9% to close at 17.5 cents.
Billabong International (ASX:BBG) added 9% to 36.5 cents.
Drilling services company Boart Longyear (ASX:BLY) rose 8% to 60.5 cents.
Emeco Holdings (ASX:EHL) closed at 29 cents, up 7.4%.
Horizon Oil (ASX:HZN) was up 7% to 38 cents.

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Pharmaceuticals company Acrux (ASX:ACR) lost 8.5% to finish at $3.46.
Theme park and entertainment centre owner Ardent Leisure (ASX:AAD) fell 4.9% to $1.74.
Australia's largest gold miner, Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) continues its volatile trading, falling 4.5% to $10.95.
Pacific Brands (ASX:PBG) lost 4.3% to close at 77.5 cents.
Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN) fell 4.2% to $1.595.

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Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King owns shares in Billabong & Kingsgate Consolidated.

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