Wall Street fell dramatically in the last hour of trade overnight after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen led investors to conclude US interest rates could start to rise in 2015, which is earlier than previously expected. Yellen also confirmed that the Fed would continue with its tapering of bond purchases. The news sent the Dow Jones down 0.7% and the S&P 500 0.61% lower.
The lead from Wall Street has in turn cast a negative tone over morning trade on the ASX with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) dropping 0.83% at noon.
All sectors except utilities were lower with gold stocks and the material sector in for particularly heavy selling.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index at midday today:
- Aristocrat Leisure Limited (ASX: ALL) has climbed 6% to $5.50
- Trade Me Group Ltd (ASX: TME) has added 3% to $3.72
- Cabcharge Australia Limited (ASX: CAB) has risen 2.4% to $4.30
- G8 Education Ltd (ASX: GEM) has gained 1.8% to $4.56
- Australand Property Group (ASX: ALZ) is up 1.8% to $4.05
These are the five worst performing stocks at midday today:
