Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX closes down 0.3% after stocks fell in a late plunge

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 October 23, 2013 3:22 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has ended its run of six winning sessions with the market falling 0.3% to 5,356.1. Sectors were mixed, with gold up 4.5%, healthcare down 1.3%, metals & mining up 1.1% and Utilities down 1.6%.

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

Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) soared 12.9% to $2.54
Silver Lake Resources (ASX: SLR) climbed 12.4% to 77 cents
Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) also rocketed up 12.4% to 59 cents
Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) rose 9.4% to 87.5 cents
Medusa Mining (ASX: MML) added 9.1% to $2.29

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Linc Energy (ASX: LNC) fell 7.7% to $1.565
G8 Education (ASX: GEM) dropped 5.3% to $3.07
Breville Group (ASX: BRG) lost 4.8% to $8.18
Qantas Airways (ASX: QAN) lost 4.6% to $1.245
BlueScope Steel (ASX: BSL) closed down 4.3% to $4.70

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Motley Fool writer/analyst Mike King owns shares in Sirius, Silver Lake and G8 Education.

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