The local bourse has made further gains this morning adding to yesterday's generally positive tone. At noon the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) was 0.6% higher.
Overnight on Wall Street US stocks bounced back strongly after heavy falls on Monday in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian tensions. The Dow Jones finished the session up 1.4%; the S&P 500 gained 1.5%.
While the overseas leads were enough to send the ASX higher today, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics also showed gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a faster than expected rate in the December quarter. This also buoyed investor sentiment.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index at midday today:
- Paladin Energy Ltd. (ASX: PDN) has 5.9% to 53.5 cents
- Sirtex Medical Limited (ASX: SRX) has added 4.8% to $15.55
- Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) has gained 4.5% to $5.21
- PanAust Limited (ASX: PNA) is up 4.3% to $1.81
- Fairfax Media Limited (ASX: FXJ) has climbed 4.2% to 98.5 cents
These are the five worst performing stocks at midday today:
- NRW Holdings Limited (ASX: NWH) has dropped 5% to $1.19
- Acrux Limited (ASX: ACR) has lost 2.8% to $2.08
- Energy World Corporation Ltd. (ASX: EWC) has slipped 2.3% to 33.7 cents
- Decmil Group Limited (ASX: DCG) has declined 2.3% to $2.15
- Silver Lake Resources Limited. (ASX: SLR) is down 2.2% to 56.7 cents
