The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has finished the day down 0.89%. Having briefly popped higher in early morning trade, the market continued its sell-off into the afternoon. The fall marks the first session in eight that the ASX has ended lower.
Today's local market action follows a mixed session on Wall Street overnight where US stocks hovered between positive and negative territory throughout the day before ending higher. At the close, the Dow Jones was up 0.53%, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.32%.
Gold stocks took a hammering today. All sectors finished in the red with consumer staples falling the most with a decline of 1.5%.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today:
- Goodman Fielder Ltd (ASX: GFF) added 5.5% to 67 cents
- Ardent Leisure Group (ASX: AAD) rose 1.9% to $2.63
- Sky Network Television Ltd (ASX: SKT) climbed 1.7% to $6.14
- Telecom Corp of New Zealand (Australia) (ASX: TEL) added 1.6% to $2.50
- FlexiGroup Limited (ASX: FXL) gained 1.6% to $3.80
These stocks were the losers on the day:
