The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) fought hard in October and managed to carve out a small gain. The benchmark index rose 0.35% to end at 8,881.9 points.
A number of ASX 200 shares outperformed this by some distance. For example, here were the best performers on the index last month:
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Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP)
The Domino's Pizza share price was the best performer on the ASX 200 index in October with a gain of 35.9%. The catalyst for this was speculation that the pizza chain operator is a takeover target of a large private equity firm. Domino's Pizza denied that it had received an approach, it said: "Domino's confirms that, as far as it is aware, it has not received any proposal from Bain Capital or had any communication with that organisation." However, the market appears to believe that there's no smoke without fire.
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
The Pilbara Minerals share price wasn't far behind with a gain of 31%. Investors were fighting to get hold of this lithium miner's shares after it delivered a stronger than expected first quarter update. Pilbara Minerals reported a 2% increase in production and a 20% lift in its average realised price. This led to a 30% increase in revenue to $251 million. Also going down well with the market were its unit costs, which reduced 13% during the period.
Codan Ltd (ASX: CDA)
The Codan share price was on form and charged 22.8% higher over the period. This appears to have been driven by the booming gold price, which broke numerous records during the month. Codan stands to benefit greatly from a strong gold price because it usually supports increased demand for its metal detectors. In fact, at its annual general meeting, management said: "Sustained strength in the gold price is maintaining favourable conditions for Minelab, with the level of demand for gold detectors in Africa running above what was seen in the second half of FY25. As a result, Minelab's overall revenues for the first quarter of FY26 have exceeded the monthly average achieved in FY25 by 16%."
Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR)
The Liontown Resources share price was a strong performer and recorded a gain of 19.2%. This was driven by improving sentiment in the lithium industry and the release of a solid quarterly update. In response to the update, Bell Potter retained its buy rating on Liontown shares with an improved price target of $1.30. It said: "Over FY26, LTR will de-risk the ramp up of Kathleen Valley. The company has a strong balance sheet with long tenor debt finance. LTR is highly leveraged to lithium markets, which we expect to improve."
