Last week marked the Australian stock market's worst for the year so far with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) slipping 132.9 points or 2.4%.
The week started off on a bad note as our miners felt the market's wrath following the sudden plunge in value of key commodities iron ore and copper. Although iron ore staged a late recovery to finish the week down just 2.4% at US$111.50 a tonne after slipping to around US$104 a tonne, its recent weakness was (justifiably) enough to play on investors' minds. Copper also deteriorated 5.3% over the five trading days.
While the market rose on Tuesday and Thursday, Friday was the bourse's worst single-day performance in more than one month as it plummeted 1.5% on the back of disappointing Chinese figures and rising tensions in the Ukraine. Incredibly, 182 out of the top 200 stocks lost ground that day.
Here are some of the week's worst performing stocks:
- Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) plunged 8.3%
- Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) deteriorated 12.1%
- Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) dropped 10.6%
- Mount Gibson Iron Limited (ASX: MGX) was beaten down 7%
- Adelaide Brighton Ltd (ASX: ABC) lost 13.8%
- Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) dropped 11.5%
- Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) also lost 21.3% following its heavy first-half loss which led to a warning from its auditor that the company may struggle to continue as a going concern
Despite the market's poor performance overall, there were some highlights for the week:
- Regis Resources Limited (ASX: RRL) grew 9.9%
- Alacer Gold Corp – CDI (ASX: AQG) jumped 11%
- St. Barbara Limited (ASX: SBM) leapt 12.9%
- Chorus Ltd (ASX: CNU) rose 10.5%
- Perseus Mining Limited (ASX: PRU) increased by 11.5%
- Starpharma Holdings Limited (ASX: SPL) gained 10%
Foolish takeaway
While it's never pleasant to watch your portfolio fall in value, the market's mood swings are an excellent opportunity for you to buy quality companies at great discounts.
