Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX jumps 0.2% at the finish

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 August 1, 2013 4:26 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has closed up 0.2% at 5,061.5, after early gains were deflated by the news that the federal government wants to impose an insurance levy on bank deposits. That saw the banks heavily sold off around midday, before recovering somewhat into the close.

Meanwhile the Aussie dollar fell below US 90 cents for the first time in three years, on fears of a rate cut next week.

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

Ausdrill Limited (ASX:ASL) climbed 6.5% to $1.15
Linc Energy (ASX:LNC) also rose 6.5%, finishing at $1.725
Mount Gibson Iron (ASX:MGX) gained 5.4% to 59 cents
GWA Group (ASX:GWA) added 4.9% to close at $2.58
Henderson Group (ASX:HGG) rose 4.7% to $2.90

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Alacer Gold (ASX:AQG) dropped 8.9% to $2.56
Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR) fell 6.8% to 75.5 cents
Horizon Oil (ASX:HZN) also lost 6.8% to 34.5 cents
Cochlear Limited (ASX:COH) slid 4.8% to $58.15
Pacific Brands (ASX:PBG) closed down 4.2% at 79 cents

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

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