Selling has accelerated through the afternoon session of trading today with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) closing down 1.28%. The down day follows continued selling of US stocks on Friday which led to the Dow Jones ending 0.89% lower, while the S&P 500 lost 0.95%.
Global macro concerns including Japan and Ukraine were at the fore today, as was continued nervousness regarding the heavy selling in US stocks late last week, particularly technology stocks.
On the ASX, all sectors were sharply lower with the exception of telecommunication services which only fell 0.14%.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today:
- Western Areas Ltd (ASX: WSA) rallied 5.3% to $3.96
- OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL) gained 3% to $3.75
- Sigma Pharmaceutical Limited (ASX: SIP) rose 2.8% to 72.5 cents
- Sirius Resources N.L. (ASX: SIR) added 2.8% to $2.60
- Echo Entertainment Group Ltd (ASX: EGP) climbed 2.2% to $2.76
These stocks were the losers on the day:
