Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX closes above 5,000 level for the first time in two months

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 22, 2013 4:46 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has closed above 5,000 for the first time since May, rising 0.6% to finish at 5,001.9, with gold miners surging on the back of a rising gold price. Positive news out of Japan and further reforms to open up China's financial system spurred the market higher.

Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index – with the top five all being gold miners.

Medusa Mining (ASX:MML) rocketed up 20.9% to $2.20
Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) climbed 16.8% to 80 cents
Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR) added 16% to 83.5 cents
Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) rose 14.4% to 63.5 cents
Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) ended up 13.5% at 80 cents.

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Leighton Holdings (ASX:LEI) lost 5.1% to end at $16.32
Ten Network Holdings (ASX:TEN) fell 4.4% to 28 cents
Virgin Australia Hioldings (ASX:VAH) dropped 3.2% to 45 cents
Orica (ASX:ORI) fell 3.2% to $17.61
Incitec Pivot (ASX:IPL) closed down 2.9% at $2.69

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Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King owns shares in Silver Lake and Leighton.

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