Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX recovers to add 0.1%

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 29, 2013 4:24 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has bounced back from early heavy losses to finish up 0.1% at 5,092.4, after US markets showed modest gains overnight. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 both added 0.3%, while in Europe the UK's FTSE 100 lost 0.2%. Locally, the gold sector lost more than 4%, despite the gold price rising above US$1,400 an ounce. The Aussie dollar is currently buying 89.7 US cents.

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

Transfield Services (ASX:TSE) shot up 22.2% to $1.10
Ausdrill (ASX:ASL) climbed 15% to $1.455
Qantas Airways (ASX:QAN) flew up 13.8% to $1.40
Boart Longyear (ASX:BLY) added 8.1% to 47 cents
Senex Energy (ASX:SXY) rose 5.6% to 76 cents

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN) slumped 22.6% to $2.12
St Barbara (ASX:SBM) dropped 15.9% to 74 cents
Billabong International (ASX:BBG) lost 11.3% to 43 cents
Perseus Mining (ASX:PRU) also fell 11.3% to 71 cents
Silver Lake Resources (ASX:SLR) slipped 9.7% to 93 cents

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

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