Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX recovers 0.2% of yesterday's fall

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 30, 2013 3:24 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has recovered some of yesterday's dip, adding 0.3% to finish at 5,430.9. The small move perhaps indicates some nervousness as the US Federal Reserve meeting winds up today (tonight our time), with most observers expecting the bond buying program to continue and tapering to start sometime next year.

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

Transpacific Industries Group (ASX: TPI) added 4.8% to $1.09
Sundance Resources (ASX: SDL) also added 4.8% to finish at 11 cents
Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) rose 3.7% to $1.39
Wotif.com Holdings (ASX: WTF) saw a gain of 3.7% to $4.47
JB Hi-Fi (ASX: JBH) increased 3.7% to $21.29

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) dropped 12.3% to 46.5 cents
Paladin Energy (ASX: PDN) fell 7.2% to 38.5 cents
Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN) lost 6.6% to end at 84.5 cents
Navitas (ASX: NVT) closed 5.4% lower at $5.58
St Barbara (ASX: SBM) slipped 4.9% to 49 cents

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.