ASX 100 top 5 gainers for the week

Iron ore, gold and copper producers were on the way up.

Darryl Daté-Shappard

I started investing after finding a copy of Peter Lynch's "Beating the Street" in the English book section of a library in Japan, where I was living at the time in 1997. Seeing that regular people can find investment ideas just as easily as professionals, I used the philosophy of that book to invest in stocks in Japan, and later in Australia after moving in 2001. I also have experience in property investing, and went on to complete my masters degree in Applied Finance at QUT in Brisbane. I follow the investment style of Peter Lynch, Phillip Fisher and Warren Buffett-- knowing what you invest in, doing your homework to keep up with a stock's story and holding a healthy skepticism of what the stock market calls "value".

Published January 20, 2014 1:00 am AEDT

The S&P ASX 100 Index (ASX: ^XTO) had a flat week, starting from the previous Friday's close of 4409, dipping down to 4323 before returning to its 4406 close on Friday. The Aussie dollar saw further weakness, closing at $0.877 to the US$.

For the week, these companies were the top five gainers.

Oz Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL) +16.5% ($3.67)

Although the full-year production figures were down from 2012 in both copper and gold, they were in the upper range of the company's previous guidance. Cost cutting is working and 2014 production guidance has been reconfirmed for copper at 75,000- 80,000 tonnes and gold at 130,000 – 140,000 oz.

Alumina Limited (ASX: AWC) +12.6% ($1.25)

Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals (AWAC), of which Alumina owns a 40% interest, reported within the Alcoa (NYSE: AA) fourth-quarter report that it produced 4.0 million tonnes of alumina for the quarter and 15.8 million tonnes for the year.

The total of dividends and distributions received by Alumina during 2013 was US$107 million, up from US$95 million in 2012.

Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) +9.9% ($9.19)

Copper and gold production were up in the December quarter, 5.9% and 15% respectively, compared to the previous quarter. The gold spot price has started to level out above US$1,200 an ounce.

The company maintained earlier guidance of gold and copper production, with gold production expected to be around the top end of the guidance range (2.3 million ounces).

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) +9.2% ($5.68)

The iron ore miner is still chopping away at its debt, announcing that it plans to repay US$1.6 billion in senior unsecured notes by mid-March. Higher iron ore spot prices are holding out, helping it pay back US$3.07 billion since November.

It projects that by the end of March, gross debt will be down to US$9.6 billion and net debt will be about US$7.8 billion.

Orora Ltd (ASX: ORA) +8.7% ($1.38)

Recently demerged from Amcor Limited (ASX: AMC), it will be operating the fibre and beverage packaging businesses in Australia. In the US it will run the packaging distribution service business.

Currently, it is a $1.6 billion company by market capitalisation.

Foolish takeaway

Last week the commodities companies led the way. Spot prices for many commodities are low, but companies can still boost earnings and revenues by producing more.

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