The S&P/ASX 200 Index (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has ended the last trading session of the week with a fall of 0.29%. Friday's falls leave the index essentially flat for the week as investors appeared to stay on the sidelines in the lead up to next week's Federal Budget.
Overnight on Wall Street US markets ended mixed with the Dow Jones finishing up 0.2% and the S&P 500 falling 0.14%.
On the economic front the release of the latest quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy by the Reserve Bank of Australia today kept investors busy as they dissected the report.
The falling iron ore price led to falls amongst the major miners with the materials sector ending the session down 0.67%. Most other sectors ended lower too with the exceptions of information technology, property, utilities and telecommunications services which posted gains.
Here are the top five best performing stocks in the index today:
- Envestra Limited (ASX: ENV) soared 18.1% to $1.33
- Leighton Holdings Limited (ASX: LEI) rallied 6.9% to $20.05
- Lynas Corporation Limited (ASX: LYC) added 3.8% to 13.5 cents
- ALS Ltd (ASX: ALQ) climbed 3.3% to $7.88
- News Corp (ASX: NWS) rose 3% to $18.29
These stocks were the losers on the day:
- Arrium Ltd (ASX: ARI) fell 4.7% to $1.10
- Cover-More Group Ltd (ASX: CVO) dropped 4.3% to $2.23
- Mermaid Marine Australia Limited (ASX: MRM) lost 4% to $2.18
- Ten Network Holdings Limited (ASX: TEN) slipped 3.6% to 26.5 cents
- Skilled Group Ltd. (ASX: SKE) closed down 3.6% to $2.70
