Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX ends down slightly at 5,238.1, a fall of just 0.2%

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 September 18, 2013 4:28 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has close down slightly, dropping just 0.2% to end at 5,238.1, as investors await the outcome of the two-day US Federal Reserve meeting. Chairman Ben Bernanke is widely expected to announce a cut of around US$5-10 billion in quantitative easing, from its current level of US$85 billion per month.

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

TPG Telecom (ASX: TPM) soared 5.9% to $4.48
Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) climbed 5.6% to $2.82
iiNet (ASX: IIN) rose 5.6% to $6.27
Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) added 4.6% to $3.87
Cudeco (ASX: CDU) moved up 3.8% to $2.20

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) dropped 6.4% to 51 cents
Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) fell 5.4% to 79 cents
Decmil Group (ASX: DCG) lost 5.3% to $2.48
Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) slipped 5.3% to 80 cents
Ten Network Holdings (ASX: TEN) closed down 4.8% at 30 cents

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Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King owns shares in TPG Telecom and Sirius Resources.

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