Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX ends flat, with some large cap stocks going ex-dividend

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 19, 2013 4:27 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has closed flat at 5,112.5, with the gold sector the best performer, rising 2.6%, while health care was up 1.5% and consumer staples rose 1.4%. The worst performing sector was the telecommunications sector, dropping 3.5%

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

Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN) shot up 17.5% to $2.32
Billabong International (ASX:BBG) climbed 14.8% to 62 cents
St Barbara Limited (ASX:SBM) rose 13.5% to 75.5 cents
Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) added 12.1% to 88 cents
Resolute Mining (ASX:RSG) finished up 11% at $1.01

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Fleetwood Corporation (ASX:FWD) dropped 17.7% to $3.40
BlueScope Steel (ASX:BSL) lost 14.1% to $4.70
Arrium (ASX:ARI) ex-OneSteel fell 5.7% to 98.5 cents
Linc Energy (ASX:LNC) slipped 4.5% to $1.605
Telstra Corporation (ASX:TLS) closed down 3.7% at $4.91

Interested in our #1 dividend-paying stock? Discover The Motley Fool's favourite income idea for 2013-2014 in our brand-new, FREE research report, including a full investment analysis! Simply click here for your FREE copy of "The Motley Fool's Top Dividend Stock for 2013-2014."

More reading

Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King owns shares in Kingsgate Consolidated and Telstra.

Automatic Renewal

By taking up this offer, you will also be enrolled in our auto-renewal program, which is our way of making your ongoing subscription easier by ensuring uninterrupted service. Don't worry, though – you're not locked in, and can cancel your auto-renewal at any time before each 'anniversary' date without question or penalty.