The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has rallied 41 points today to close at 5,476.8 a gain of 0.75%. The market is now, once again, within a whisker of the psychological 5,500 point level.
The ASX's gains followed a strong lead from Wall Street overnight where the Dow Jones rallied 0.72% and the S&P 500 gained 0.56% after U.S. investors responded positively to comments by the Federal Reserve Chairwoman.
The major company and economic news released today included interim results from the National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) which showed an 8.5% lift in cash earnings to $3.15 billion, and Labour Force data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This reported that the unemployment trend estimate remained steady at 5.9% in April.
Gold stocks sold off today, while mining stocks and the banks gained. Most sectors were higher with the exception of consumer discretionary which fell.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today:
- Transfield Services Limited (ASX: TSE) rallied 7.2% to $1.11
- AWE Limited (ASX: AWE) jumped 5.8% to $1.63
- Sirius Resources N.L. (ASX: SIR) added 5.8% to $2.91
- Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (ASX: MRM) climbed 5.1% to $2.27
- Southern Cross Media Group Ltd (ASX: SXL) gained 4.7% to $1.21
These stocks were the losers on the day: