Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX closes down 0.4% at 5,276.7

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 20, 2013 4:34 pm AEST

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has dropped 0.4% to 5,276.7, with the miners and banks dragging the index down. The utilities and telecommunications sectors were the best performers, rising 0.9% and 0.7% respectively, while the information technology sector dropped 1.3% and health care lost 1%.

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

Energy World Corporation (ASX: EWC) climbed 5.4% to 48.5 cents
Invocare (ASX: IVC) rose 2.75% to $11.23
Origin Energy (ASX: ORG) added 2.7% to $14.45
Federation Centres (ASX:FDC) ex-Centro closed up 2.3% at $2.22
David Jones (ASX: DJS) saw a rise of 2.1%, ending at $2.91

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Billabong International (ASX: BBG) dropped 11.6% to 42 cents
Decmil Group (ASX: DCG) lost 9.2% to $2.26
Transfield Services (ASX: TSE) fell 6.3% to $1.11
Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX: KCN) slipped 6% to $1.795
Mineral Deposits (ASX: MDL) closed down 5.9% at $3.04

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

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