Best and worst stocks on the ASX today

ASX drop 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 December 16, 2013 3:29 pm AEDT

The S&P / ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has continued on its 'Santa slump', dropping 0.2% to 5,089.6, as weaker Chinese manufacturing data played on the minds of investors. Investors may also be selling before the US Federal Reserve meeting this week, with many commentators predicting the central bank will announce the tapering of quantitative easing.

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

Monadelphous Group (ASX: MND) soared 10.1% to $16.51
UGL Limited (ASX: UGL) climbed 9% to $6.91
Boart Longyear (ASX: BLY) rose 8.2% to 33 cents
AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) added 7.2% to $1.27
WorleyParsons (ASX: WOR) gained 7.1% to $16.53

These stocks were the losers on the day.

Senex Energy (ASX: SXY) dropped 8.4% to 70.5 cents
Buru Energy (ASX: BRU) lost 3.7% to $1.425
Beach Energy (ASX: BPT) fell 2.9% to $1.321
Mount Gibson Iron (ASX: MGX) slipped 2.9% to $1.00
Transfield Services (ASX: TSE) closed down 2.8% to 86 cents

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