Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX loses 0.6%, following offshore markets down

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 November 19, 2013 3:20 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has dropped 0.6% to close at 5,352.9, following a late plunge on Wall Street. Renowned US billionaire investor Carl Icahn said he was 'very cautious' about the US stock market, and could see a big drop. The S&P 500 subsequently closed down 0.4%, while the Dow Jones added 0.1% and the NASDAQ dropped 0.9%.

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

Commonwealth Property Office Fund (ASX: CPA) soared 5% to $1.265
Mount Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX) climbed 3.7% to $1.12
Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL) added 2.7% to $16.68
Sirius Resources (ASX: SIR) rose 2.4% to $2.52
Investa Office Fund (ASX: IOF) gained 2.2% to $3.23

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) slumped 11.1% to 32 cents
Ten Network Holdings (ASX: TEN) dropped 6.9% to 27 cents
Ausdrill (ASX: ASL) lost 5.9% to 88 cents
Cudeco (ASX: CDU) fell 5% to $1.805
St Barbara (ASX: SBM) closed down 4.6% at 31 cents

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